The House of Representatives has approved a new Copyright Law, which introduces fundamental changes to the landscape for IP protection in Indonesia.
A new Copyright Law was approved by the House of Representatives on 16 September 2014. The existing Copyright Law (Law No. 19 of 2002) will be replaced after formalities are completed and the President signs off. There is no prescribed timeframe, but we might see this attended to before current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s term expires on 20 October 2014 (see our post here).
The new law is a game-changer for enforcement. The introduction of landord liability means that building management will be committing a crime if they knowingly allow tenants to carry on with infringing activity on their premises. A fine of IDR100million (around USD12,000) is applied. Rights holders now have an additional target to pursue, and landlords will need to become more proactive in monitoring their tenants.
At some point between the last draft version that was circulated and the version that was passed, lawmakers dropped some of the harsher provisions of the law. The draft included a term of imprisonment of 2 years with the landlord liability clause - and it's not here in the version passed this week. Absent too is the provision introducing criminal penalties for buying certain works (books, musical and cinematographic works) - this would have represented a fundamental shift in Indonesia's approach to copyright protection, being the first time consumers of pirated products could have been found guilty of a crime. We commented on the draft Copyright Law here.
The new Copyright Law also sees terms of copyright protection extended (e.g. 70 years from death of author, compared with the current 50), and revisions to provisions and definitions that serve to broaden the scope of copyright protection in Indonesia.
The story is featuring in local media, including Hukum Online (see here), Kompas (see here) and Detik (see here). We commented on a draft version of the law here.
(the House of Representatives building, from Hukum Online)