As Indonesia’s outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) prepares to leave office, it’s a good time to reflect on what his administration has done for intellectual property in Indonesia.
The Jakarta Post quotes SBY claiming he has made progress on corruption (see here). We have certainly seen increased levels of activity from the Corruption Eradication Commission (see our post here). There were a few notable corruption scandals, including recently the case of the Chief Justice of the Constitution Court (see our post here) and General Moeldoko’s watch (see our post here), and corruption is without a doubt still one of Indonesia’s biggest problems. But it is fair to say that significant progress has been made (see our latest comments here) and that the trend is moving in the right direction.
The same Jakarta Post article quotes SBY commenting on Indonesia’s solid economic performance. Statistics presented include average economic growth of 5.9 percent during the period of 2009 to 2013, and that in the G20 Indonesia has the second highest growth after China. This is impressive, particularly in the context of global financial woes. Solid economic performance will ensure that businesses (foreign and local) continue to be interested in investing in Indonesia, and with this we are seeing development of IP and IP infrastructure.
Two important regulations were passed by the Supreme Court - on obtaining interim injunctions in Court and Customs proceedings. We also have two key pieces of legislation ready to be debated (but not yet passed!) - a new Copyright Law which could be passed this year, and a new Trademark Law which could be passed in 2015. But we are still waiting for numerous regulations, for example on well-known trademarks and recordal of licenses. And we still don’t have a Customs recordal system. There have been so many opportunities to advance the legal infrastructure and we have been left wanting - despite that in the final years of the administration the Minister of Law came from an IP Law firm. Until intellectual property becomes a domestic priority it is unlikely to be addressed before what are regarded as more pressing issues.
President-elect Joko Widodo is due to assume office on 20 October 2014, and has not yet announced who his Minister of Law will be. Hukum Online reports that the profession is advocating for the appointment of another lawyer (see here), arguing that an academic would not function well in the world of politics and a non-lawyer would not understand the portfolio. It would seem that there is someone specific in mind!