The Directorate-General of Intellectual Property (“DGIP”) has recently introduced an electronic filing facility for copyright applications.
The new system was socialised by the DGIP Secretary Ir. Razilu on 3 July 2014 (see DGIP blog post here). The session was attended by our Nidya Kalangie and Hany Wulandari. The DGIP claims that the new system reduces processing time (for an application for registration of copyright) from nine months to 14 days.
The DGIP Secretary Ir. Razilu was quoted as saying that electronic filing facilities for other intellectual property rights will be made available in the future. One reason why the DGIP was able to dramatically reduce processing time for copyright applications is because copyright applications are not substantively examined (save for consideration of public order issues). Trademark applications, for example, are subject to formalities examination, classification and substantive examination - although we can expect a reduction in processing time from the current estimate of 24 months, it will be nothing like the claimed speed with which electronically filed copyright applications are going to be processed.
At this stage the electronic filing facility for copyright applications is available for use by regional IP offices, registered IP consultants and IP centres who have applied for access (it is not yet open to the public). The system is currently online here, and a user guide has been made available.