A workshop in Boyolalai is working on a (very realistic!) wooden replica of a Bugatti Veyron, according to a Jakarta Globe article published this week (see here). According to the article, the workshop is in the business of producing replica cars from teakwood - this is not a one off - and that the finished products are exported to US, England and Germany.
Bayolalai is a small city located in Central Java, just outside Solo and near the famous Mount Merapi. The area is known to have a high concentration of woodwork businesses. Design infringement is a common issue in this region (e.g. furniture designs being reproduced without authorisation) but this is the first we’ve heard of an entire car being copied - design, trademarks and all! We assume the workshop is neither associated with nor authorised by the Volkswagen Group.
The first lesson here is that ‘you gotta be in it to win it’. If Volkswagen has not secured registrations of its designs in Indonesia there is little it will be able to do about the design infringement. A design must be registered in Indonesia before it can be enforced here, so rights holders who choose not to file (to save on prosecution costs) are forfeiting their design rights.
The second point to note is that while the Trademark Office does recognise well-known trademarks, it is not currently possible to enforce a well-known mark. In short, no registration, no right.