The Directorate-General of Intellectual Property (“DGIP”) has been busy improving its online services, with the introduction of several useful tools.
Reviewing the classification of goods and services in trademark applications has been aided by the introduction of an online classification tool - see here. Indonesia follows the 10th edition of the Nice classification system, but is not a Nice member country. In practice there are some classification practices that are unique to Indonesia, and the Trademark Office does not publish examination guidelines. For this reason IP Consultants (patent/trademark attorneys) often attend at the Trademark Office to consult with classification examiners before filing an application. Now, some of that work can be done by checking the online classification tool, which sets out both the Nice class heading for each class as well as a fairly comprehensive list of goods/services that the Trademark Office will accept.
The DGIP has published both Indonesian and English guides to registering Geographical Indications (“GIs”). GIs are popular in Indonesia, seen as one way to help domestic businesses thrive (and rightly so). It’s not every day that a GI is granted, though, there being only around 25 so far (see our post here). These online guides should help applicants and IP Consultants alike understand the applicable procedures.
Although not strictly a DGIP resource, the DGIP has been working with WIPO on the WIPO Global Brand Database, which has apparently been up and running since 23 January 2015. Although it is still early days, the database is a hot topic, as it promises to provide details of all trademarks that have been inputted to the Trademark Office’s internal database (IPAS). If this is true, it is a quantum leap forward. Up until know, we have been able to access two resources: an online database that only includes registrations and is not completely updated; and the Trademark Office's internal database. The later has been the only resource suitable for clearance search purposes, and can only be searched at the Trademark Office - resulting in inconvenience and inefficiency. The new database also introduces new search features, including normal, fuzzy, phonetic and stemming searches, as well as device searches (though it is not yet clear how effective these will be). We understand that the database is updated weekly by Trademark Office IT staff. A socialisation session will be held soon for IP Consultants.
We’ve separately commented on another third party resource, ASEAN TM View, here.
These are all smart moves. The DGIP needs to streamline its services to cope with the ever increasing number of applications it processes each year. Establishing online services should serve to reduce the number of consultations that take place, and free up time for examiners to focus on other work.