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New Criminal Code In Indonesia Ratified
31 January 2023
Indonesia recently passed its new Criminal Code last December 6, 2022, and ratified on January 2, 2023. This replaces the old criminal code dating back to the Dutch colonial era. The New Criminal Code shall come into effect within 3 years from the date of promulgation.
While there is much talk about the controversy surrounding the new criminal code because of articles that criminalize insulting the president, cohabitation, blasphemy, sex outside of marriage, and limit the right to protest in which the punishment for violating these provisions is imprisonment, it also talks about new changes in the IP system.
Indonesia recently passed its new Criminal Code last December 6, 2022, and ratified on January 2, 2023. This replaces the old criminal code dating back to the Dutch colonial era. The New Criminal Code shall come into effect within 3 years from the date of promulgation.
While there is much talk about the controversy surrounding the new criminal code because of articles that criminalize insulting the president, cohabitation, blasphemy, sex outside of marriage, and limit the right to protest in which the punishment for violating these provisions is imprisonment, it also talks about new changes in the IP system.
“There are three new provisions affecting trademarks, trade secrets and IP in general,” says Wongrat Ratanaprayul, a director at Tilleke & Gibbins in Jakarta, Indonesia. “The new provision punishing the misuse of marks on goods or packaging allows trademark owners to enforce their rights against counterfeiters who misuse the trademark falsely implying that the goods are genuine. Falsely asserting IP ownership is punishable under the new criminal code. This provision can affect trademark owners who sign the declaration of use without actual use, when renewing their trademark. This provision can also affect IP owners who falsely claim that they own the IP.”
In addition, she says that the criminal code protects IP owners by punishing employees who disclose trade secrets of their employer or former employer. “In this way, brand owners will have assurances in enforcing their rights in addition to the available remedies as stipulated in IP laws,” she says.
She adds, “The provisions in the criminal code relating to IP are complementary to the currently existing IP laws, which already include the prohibitions on unauthorized use of another party’s IP.”
-Excel Dyquiangco
