Some of Indonesia’s best-known karaoke chains have been caught using pirated music videos.
According to a Jakarta Globe article (see here), at least five karaoke chains have been caught sourcing music videos from a supplier found to be in the business of collating illegally downloaded material. Police raided the supplier’s studio and seized computers, laptops, optical discs (DVDs) and documents. The following companies have been implicated in the case:
- PT Inul Vista Pratama (owner of Inul Vizta);
- PT Diva Head Office (owner of Diva Family Karaoke);
- PT Charly Family Karaoke (owner of Charly VHT Family Karaoke);
- PT Imperium Happy (owner of Happy Puppy); and
- PT Nav Karaoke (owner of Nav Karaoke Keluarga).
(facade of a Happy Puppy karaoke outlet)
It is alleged that the supplier has been in the business of peddling illegal copies of music videos since 2008, and that his monthly income was around IDR200million (around USD17,353).
The Jakarta Globe story says the supplier will be charged under the criminal provisions of the Copyright Law. There is no mention of what will happen to the karaoke chains, but we expect they will plead ignorance in response to any criminal allegations - article 72 of the Copyright Law requires that wilful infringement be established, and they will argue the material was legitimately procured (the “I didn’t know” defence).
Apparently a complaint was filed with police after rock band Radja suffered economic losses. It is claimed that the band was unable to negotiate favourable terms on a recording contract, because one of its songs that had not yet been officially released was already available in karaoke outlets. This is an interesting twist. It’s often said that intellectual property protection favours foreign interests, but this is an example of losses suffered by Indonesian individuals. The more intellectual property becomes a domestic priority, the more we can expect resources will be committed to developing Indonesia's IP infrastructure.