Intellectual Property in Indonesia

17 Oct 2013

Intellectual property (IP) is the heart of innovation and knowledge-based economy. Indonesia has a complete set of laws in the field of intellectual property, namely:

  1. Law Number 15 of 2001 regarding Trademark ;
  2.  Law Number 14 of 2001 regarding Patent ;
  3.  Law Number 19 of 2002 regarding Copyright ;
  4.  Law Number 29 of 2000 regarding the Protection of Plant Variety ;
  5. Law Number 31 of 2000 regarding Industrial Design ; and

The above laws, except Law Number 29 of 2000 regarding the Protection of Plant Variety, are administered by the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. Law Number 29 of 2000 is administered by the Center for the Protection of Plant Variety of the Ministry of Agriculture.

  1. 1.      Trade Mark

The right of a mark provides a monopoly to the owner of the mark to use the mark or to grant permission to another party to use it. In order to meet the requirements for registration, the mark must have distinguishing features and have no direct reference to the character or quality of the goods or services.

The term of protection for a registered mark is 10 years as of the filing date. The term can be extended for the same duration within a period of not more than 12 months before the expiry of the protection period. Total cost required for registering trademark is around 1 million rupiah.

  1. 2.      Patent

Indonesia grants patents for inventions that are novel, contain an inventive step and are industrially applicable. The term of protection is 20 years. A simple patent may be granted for new products that have practical use. The term of protection for these is 10 years.

Publication takes place after formalities examination has been completed. The application will be published for six months during which period any interested third party may file an opposition. Total cost required for registering patent is around 5-10 million rupiah.

  1. 3.      Copyright

The copyright is automatically born to a work as soon as a work has been created. However, in order to ease the proof of the ownership of a work, the work can be filed in the Indonesian Copyright Office.

For the following subject matter, term of protection is for the live of the author and 50 years after his/her death:

  1. Books, pamphlets, and all other written works,
  2. Dramas, musical dramas, dances, choreographic works,
  3. All forms of arts, such as paintings, engravings, sculptures,
  4. Batik arts,
  5. Songs or music with or without lyrics,
  6. Architecture,
  7. Sermons, lecturers, addresses and other works of utterance,
  8. Visual aids for educational and scientific purposes,
  9. Maps
  10. Translations, interpretations, adaptations, anthologies

 

For the following subject matter, term of protection is 50 years as of the first publication:

  1. Computer programs,
  2. Cinematographic works,
  3. Photographic works,
  4. Data-bases; and
  5. Works resulting from adaptations
  1. 4.      Plant variety protection filing

Indonesia has recently begun granting plant variety protection rights (PVP). A PVP right is the right to use a plant variety to the exclusion of unauthorised third parties, and/or the right to grant licences for a third party to use the plant variety. PVP can be granted in respect of new varieties of plant species which are distinct, uniform, stable and named/labelled. The term of PVP is 20 years for annual/seasonal plants and 25 years for perennial plants.

  1. 5.      Industrial Design

The philosophy behind the industrial design system in Indonesia is to create a conductive climate for the creations and innovations of the people in the field of industrial designs as a part of the intellectual property rights system. Designs that are contrary to the prevailing laws and regulations, public order, religion, or morality cannot be registered in Indonesia. An industrial design application coming from the any country which is the member of the Paris Convention may claim the priority rights within 6 months from the first filing date.The term of protection for a registered industrial design in Indonesia is 10 years as of the filing date.