The Ministry of Trade has missed an opportunity to impose landlord’s liability for infringement of intellectual property rights on owners of shopping centres.
Regulation on Guidelines for Establishing and Developing Traditional Markets, Shopping Centers, and Modern Stores (No. 70/M-DAG/PER/12/2013) was passed on 12 December 2013 and will come into force on 13 May 2014. It governs licensing for traditional markets, shopping centres, and modern stores.
Formulation of this regulation was an excellent opportunity to introduce specific liability for landlords that allow infringing activity, for example:
- where a shopping centre owner has been given notice of infringement of registered intellectual property rights (i.e. warning letter); and
- has not taken steps to address the acts of infringement within a set timeframe.
Sanctions could have included fines and/or revocation of business licenses.
Laws imposing liability on landlords would be an invaluable enforcement tool, especially in Indonesia where counterfeiting activity is widespread.