By: Dr. Iman Sjahputra, SH, Sp.N, LL.M*

Why someone’s works, either industrial innovation such as patent, trademark, design industry, geographic indication, plant variety and design integrated circuit, including works in the fields of copyright and trade secret, shall be registered?

In fact, a registration is necessary to protect the creator or inventor, consumer and the state. The creator or inventor will suffer a lost if his work is copied through an infringement, or his works being infringed, circulated and sold in the market. While the consumers (buyers) definitely will be harmed also for buying infringed products where its quality not the same as the original one. Generally infringed products have a poor quality. The state will also suffer a lost from the tax income. If the pirated products belongs to the foreign citizen indeed that the infringer’s country will be expelled through the international trade boycott. Consequently, the economic wheel of the Infringer Country will be seized.

So you as the consumer have to realize that buying an infringed product is harming and fatal because it is not only you who are suffered a lost, but also the State will do so. Beside that by buying an infringed product means that you take the part in killing the creativity world, and also the creator/inventor at the same time.

Beside that, as a consumer you are certainly being inflicted a lost by buying the infringed products. Because an infringed product though it is cheaper than the original one, but undoubtedly there is no guarantee for the safety and health aspects. Instead of getting the benefit from the cheap infringed products, in the end you might suffer multiple lost. Because logically, the hijacker or infringer certainly wants to get vastly profit by cheating.

Careful

So as a consumer, you must always remember the proverb, “Careful before buying, because similar and cheap product not always original and safe”.

In this time it is very common for you to find famous product (read: branded) with a very cheap price while we are walking in the shopping center, either a big or small one. It can be guaranteed that the branded product coming with a cheap price is an infringed product. From the appearance it may be has no difference with the original one, but from the quality, safety and healthy aspects, who can guarantee it?

You might be confused to buy the original or fake product. It is so dilemmatic, isn’t it? Based on the cheap price and our financial condition, we will be teased to buy the infringed product. But you have to remember that buying the infringed product, not only suffers yourself but it also suffers the creator and inventor. Besides that it means that you are also being a part to spread the pirating by giving profit to some people which are called the infringers! So it is better for you to buy cheap products as you can afford, but it must be the original one.

Indonesia always struggles against the infringement in order not to be expelled from the international world trade. In other side, the government is trying to give some reward to somebody’s works. The purpose is to grow up and create the new creators from the country’s son in every field so that this country will not become a “trash bin” for imported products, especially the imported pirated products! For these purposes, the Government has been trying to facilitate the growing of the original invention and the new works as the ideas and works of the nation’s sons.

The Registration

Many facilitates are intensified and prioritized. One of those is by pushing the new creators to register their works through the Directorate General of Intellectual Property, Department of Law and Human Right.

However these facilities have not optimally exploited yet. As the proof, in the year of 2010 the data at the Directorate General of Intellectual Property shows the decreasing of the registration application of the art works. If June registered 308 registrations, in fact in September it was declined into 286 applications. It might be said that the decline of the application numbers not automatically reflects the decline of the works of Indonesian creator. But generally it can be said that the art works application in Indonesia are still low.

In the field of literature the data shows that the application of works as from January to September 2010 only reached 25 registrations. Whereas we know that there are many Indonesian talented artists who create high quality works, such as Laskar Pelangi novel written by Andrea Herata which was also produced into the movie and got the community extraordinary applauded. It was reported that the novel has been translated into many languages.

Although the Law No. 19 Year 2001 concerning Copyright does not require the registration. As well as the Trade Secret that get the legal protection when the information in the technology or business field has the economic value and remain protected its secrecy. But, though it is not an obligation, the registration of Copyright and Trade Secret are still needed under the purpose to simplify the evidencing in case of there is any conflict in the future.

Oppositely, in the industrial fields of patent, trademark, design industry, geographic indication, plant variety and the layout design of the integrated circuits, anyone’s works have to be registered to get the law protection. To get the IPR protection in this industry fields, trademark, patent, industrial design, layout design of integrated circuit, the registration itself is not enough. Because before the Registration the industrial IPR field needs the compliance of the formal and material requirements in a registration to gain the ownership right. The formal requirements related to the filing of the applicant identity or the identity of the works that is applied for.

Meanwhile the material requirements related to the invention of the originality of works. For example, the material requirements for patent are the novelty, non obvious and the industrial applicability. In the geographic indication, the material requirement is the existence of the relationship between a product and the geographic factor which influences the product quality. In the design industry, the material requirements are the existence of the novelty and applicability to produce a product. All these registration requirements are made to protect all parties so it is not easy for infringement. Because even though with the existence of a legal protection through a registration in fact the infringements are still exist lustrously. Can you imagine what will happen to a non-registered work?

You may not surprise if sometimes there is a new work just been invented, then when it is just being shown in an international industrial forum, such in the U.S.A., Japan or China, in a next week we will find the similar infringed product under a different quality. Without any bad presumption, China is the most criticized country by the international related to the infringed products or copy. The works in the electronic, computers, software, convection, spare parts which are similar to the world famous products can be produced by this country with way much cheaper price compare to the original product.

We have to admit their expert to copy a product. An example is a branded and famous pen under “Mont Blanc” mark made in Germany. You do not need to surprise when you visit the shopping centers in China and find a very similar pen with the original “Mont Blanc” and sold for only 10 Yuan (approximately IDR 13.500). But you have to remember that once you are tensed to buy it, you must not furious or regret in case your shirt is smeared with ink. You shall be thanking God if your skin is not becoming itchy because of ink allergy. Isn’t it better to keep a good image and health? Or do you prefer the stained dress to the itchy skin from allergy?

* The writer is domiciled in Jakarta and handles many Intellectual Property Rights cases.