Developing creative industries in Bali

In order to boost creative industries in Bali, The Ministry of Industry has issued No. 72/M- IND/PER/9/2015 on the Roadmap to Develop Bali as a Center of Creative Industry During the 2015 – 2019 Period ("Regulation").  A copy of the Regulation is available here.

The Regulation provides a roadmap for Bali Creative Industry Center (“BCIC”) to become a center to support local creative industries.  The mission is to:

• create a competitive creative industry ecosystem;
• develop research of technology, design, art, culture and innovation;
• build capacity of human resources and a leading creative and compteitive community; and
• facilitate promotion and marketing of creative industry products.

Support for creative industries will be provided in both commercial and non-commercial forms, and may include: training, research and development, marketing and communications, event organization and provision of facilities (e.g. accommodation for national or international creative economy meetings, a production house for animation and multimedia content, exhibition rooms).

Five programs that will run under the Regulation are:

1. innovation and intellectual property development;
2. education and training for creative industry businesses;
3. marketing and promotions for creative industry products;
4. software and content industry development; and
5. creative industry business incubation.

The focus for each of the five years will be:

• 2015 - building awareness;
• 2016 - capacity building;
• 2017 - strengthening programs;
• 2018 - going global; and
• 2019 - go global (continued).

The program will be supervised by three Directorates at the Ministry of Industry - the Secretariat General, the Directorate-General of Small and Medium Sized Industries, and the Directorate-General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation, Electronic and Multifarious Industries.

(Authored by Bagus Lestanto, Associate)

QA for DGIP databases

Quality assurance for DGIP databases has become an issue, as IP Consultants notice an increase in administrative and typographical errors.

In the last few months, there has been a noticeable increase in administrative and typographical errors that can be traced back to DGIP databases.  For example, in the trademarks space:

• representations of applied trademarks not correctly published in Trademark Gazettes (e.g. wrong logo, or word mark in place of device mark);
• priority claims not appearing in trademark registration certificates and/or Trademark Gazettes; and
• goods or services specifications not correctly included in trademark registration certificates and/or Trademark Gazettes.

Enquiries with the IT Division at the Trademark Office have revealed that data entry into the IPAS database (the WIPO system currently used by the Trademark Office) is handled by outsourced staff.  It appears that those staff were not briefed to include priority data, and that gazettes and certificates are printed based on IPAS entries. It also appears that there is no quality assurance system in place to check the accuracy of data uploaded (i.e. Trademark Office staff have not been assigned to supervise data entry).

This is creating additional work for IP Consultants prosecuting applications.  At the publication stage, it is necessary to verify that mistakes published in the gazettes are corrected so they don’t appear on certificates.  It also becomes necessary to advise clients on the risk of subsequent administrative challenges (i.e. on grounds that publication was not properly effected).  At the registration stage, mistakes in details printed on certificates need to be corrected (note: the Trademark Office is not charging official fees for reprinting certificates where errors are attributable to the Office).  Amendments at both stages can be arranged based on a formal written request.

Recordal of copyright in logos

The implementation of new provisions concerning recordal of copyright in logos is proving tricky.

We’ve written before about how the current Copyright Law deals with recordal of copyright in logos (see our post here).  In summary, copyright in logos is recognised, but it is no longer possible to record copyright in logos with the Copyright Office (whereas it was under the last Copyright Law). The current Copyright Law was:

• passed by the House of Representatives in September 2014;
• became law on 16 October 2014; and
• began to be implemented at the Copyright Office - insofar as it relates to recordal of copyright in logos - in June 2015.

In implementing the provisions of the Copyright Law that relate to recordal of copyright in logos, the Copyright Office has been:

• accepting applications filed before 16 October 2014;
• accepting applications filed after 16 October 2014 that were examined before June 2015; and
• rejecting applications filed after 16 October 2014 that were examined during or after June 2015.

However, we have also come across cases inconsistent with the above - an application filed in September 2014 that was rejected, for example.

For applications filed on or after 16 October 2014, and examined in June 2015 or thereafter, examiners have been directed to cross-check with the General Register of Trademarks to see if an equivalent trademark registration exists.  If it does, Copyright Office Examiners have been directed to reject the application for recordal of copyright in the logo.

Determination of whether an artistic work is a logo appears to be left to the subjective discretion of Examiners.  Further, it remains unclear what the Copyright Office will do if an equivalent trademark application is identified - it may be that the copyright application is kept pending until it is clear that the applied trademark has been registered.  This may cause significant delays.  Copyright applications have (under the previous law) been taking 3 to 6 months to registration.  Trademark applications have been taking 24 - 30 months (assuming no objections).

There do not appear to be any written guidelines or directions to examiners on implementation of the provisions of the Copyright Law as it relates to recordal of copyright in logos.

Renewing trademarks online - system demo

The Trademark Office has been working on a beta version of a system for renewing trademarks online.

Bapak Said Nafik, Chief of the Systems Development Division at the Trademark Office, hosted a demonstration of the system at the Trademark Office on 17 September 2015.  He introduced the basic framework of a system to which registered IP Consultants can log in, pay renewal fees, and process renewal applications.  There is still a lot of work to be done, though.  For example, it is not yet possible to associate applications with firms - only with individual IP Consultants.  Another example is the accommodation of foreign applicants - currently the system will not process an application unless an Indonesian Citizen ID is uploaded (which a foreign applicant will not have).

So far, there are no official guidelines or notices concerning the introduction of an e-filing system.  It will also be necessary to pass regulations establishing a legal basis for processing applications online.

This demonstration of the system for renewing trademarks online followed an e-filing demonstration held on 2 September 2015 (see our post here).  It appears that the Trademark Office intends to roll out a system for renewals as the first step towards a comprehensive system for electronic filing of trademarks.