Nearly 90 percent of businesses in Indonesia’s creative economy lack intellectual property protection, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin said on World Intellectual Property Day in April.  

“In fact, collaboration, synergy schemes, as well as alignment of intellectual property policies and national development agenda’s achievement need to be translated into concrete actions,” he said, speaking at the Vice Presidential Palace in Jakarta on April 26.  

A planned National Intellectual Property Strategy will boost economic growth and support national development through a new intellectual property ecosystem, he told reporters. The plan envisions that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), especially in the innovation sector, will scale-up since they are expected to play an active role in contributing to post-pandemic economic recovery. 
“I hope that at least 20 percent of the 64 million MSMEs in Indonesia can have their intellectual property protected,” Ma’ruf said, adding that the if MSMEs can have their products patented, they will boost the people’s confidence in Indonesian-made products. 

“I’d like to invite all Indonesian people, especially the youth, to continue to rise as creative, innovative, and inspiring people for Advanced Indonesia,” he said. 

At the same time, Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna H. Laoly underscored that the country’s youth play an important role in building the national economy since they are exposed to technology from an early age. 

“I hope young inventors, creators, and entrepreneurs can use their intellectual property rights to achieve their goals of pooling income, creating jobs, responding to local and global challenges, and following the development of national communications,” the Minister said. 

But the country’s government has plans to bring about a digital transformation, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said on April 18, when he urged the nation to pay more attention to fighting economic crimes that are increasingly massive, complicated, and complex. 

“First and foremost, we have to continue to make breakthrough. We have to immediately carry out digital transformation, adopting regulatory technology and making breakthrough in the law sector for various fundamental problems,” Jokowi said during the Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Movement on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (APUPPT) at the State Palace in Jakarta. 

“Do carry out anticipation at every level as early as possible to prevent efforts that can intervene integrity and stability of our economic, financial system. And carry out anticipation on the rise in economic crimes, including cybercrime and other crimes that take advantage of technological sophistication,” he added. “We have to build synergy to ensure fairness in law enforcement, to increase rescue efforts on the return and recovery of the state finance, to provide legal certainty for both local and foreign investors, and to build Indonesia’s stronger, integrated, and sustainable financial system.”  

All of this suggests that while the country continues to struggle with technology and intellectual property – it has been on the U.S. Trade Representative’s Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Protection for more than 30 years – the government does have plans to improve its status. The Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) is leading an IP Operations Task Force consisting of five ministries and agencies, including the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM), Customs, the State Police, and the Ministry of Communications and Information (MOCI). 

All of this should keep intellectual property lawyers in Indonesia busy; they will continue to have ample opportunities to advise their domestic and foreign clients alike on patent, trademark and other forms of IP rights protection. 

With this continuing interest in intellectual property protection in Indonesia, we turned to IP professionals in the region in order to understand better what clients need today. Asia IP asked a large number of professionals – mostly in-house counsel and corporate legal managers – what they were looking for from their legal service providers. From their answers, we have compiled our list of Indonesia’s IP Experts, those lawyers who understand just what their clients need and are able to provide them with the best practical advice.  

Today’s clients are looking for more than just a degree from a top-notch university and a couple of decades of practice. In order to be an outstanding provider of intellectual property advice, a lawyer must also be capable of understanding how intellectual property impacts the rest of his client’s business, and be able to provide practical, real-world, business-savvy advice. She must be able to provide sound advice on the current law, but also needs to be able to understand coming trends which are likely to impact her client’s business. 

Unlike days past when she might have played just a bit role, today’s IP Expert is every bit a full-fledged team member. 

The largest IP firms and practices in Indonesia are, not surprisingly, well-represented on our list. Rouse landed six different lawyers on our list, while AMR Partnership, Biro Oktroi Roosseno and SKC Law each placed three lawyers. Am Badar & Am Badar, Assegaf Hamzah & Partners, HHP Law Firm, Iman Sjahputra & Associates, Inter Patent Office, Januar Jahja & Partners, K&K Advocates, Lubis Santosa & Maramis, Makarim & Taira S., Pacific Patent Multiglobal and Tilleke & Gibbins each placed two lawyers on our list.  

Our survey includes only those lawyers working at law firms in Indonesia. 

Most of the lawyers named to our list have multiple practice specialties. Many of them are litigators, while others concentrate on prosecution work or provide strategic advice.  

All of them have something in common: they are experts in their fields and, in one way or another, they provide extra value for their clients. They are Asia IP’s IP Experts for Indonesia.