IP registrations in Indonesia increasing
12 October 2020
Indonesia has one of the highest number of Covid 19 cases in Southeast Asia, with more than 320,500 infections as of this writing. According to an article in The Jakarta Post, the Health Ministry announced that 4,850 new cases were reported on Thursday, October 8. The article further revealed that Covid 19 has reached all 34 provinces in the country.
Things may be looking bleak in the country where the health crisis is concerned. However, things are looking up in another area – intellectual property. The number of IP registrations in Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, has climbed compared to last year’s figures.
According to the article “Intellectual property registrations in Indonesia have increased in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic” published in Spruson & Ferguson’s website, Freddy Harris, the Director General of the Intellectual Property said in his online talk show that in March and April, around Rp 250 billion (US$ 17 million) entries were recorded. The same period last year yielded only Rp 130 billion (US$ 8.9 million).
Copyright registrations numbered to 21,000 compared to 3,000 a few years ago. Domestic patent registrations now make up 15 percent of overall patent registrations, up from 10 percent. Trademark applications from January to June increased by 7 percent from the same period in 2019.
“The Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) has taken steps to accommodate the needs of IP owners during this time, which resulted in increasing numbers of IP registrations. These developments—especially in relation to the online system—are positive and support awareness of IP rights in Indonesia,” said Hani Wulanhandari, trademark specialist at Tilleke & Gibbins in Jakarta.
The online system includes a virtual counter for patent and industrial design applications. These are the first virtual IP registration counters in Indonesia. Chat tools and call center facilities are available. For trademark applications, the online trademark system is now up and running for every procedure. Previously, some filings had to be done physically at the DGIP counter since corresponding options were not yet available at the online system.
“The growth shows that the online system provided by the DGIP is a useful tool for reaching out to IP owners,” Wulanhandari added.
She said these positive developments indeed provide a silver lining to Indonesia as it continues to face problems brought about by Covid 19. She also sees the numbers continuously rising.
“The market has been shifting more online during this time, and Indonesia—a large country with a diverse population — is an ideal market for businesses. For this reason and the others discussed here, I believe that the number of IP registrations will continue to grow,” she explained.
Espie Angelica A. de Leon
