Commercial Court of Central Jakarta on June 2022 has delivered its decision for not accepting a lawsuit filed by PT Terbit Financial Technology (TFT), a local financial technology company based in Jakarta, against PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa and PT Tokopedia, on the basis of lacking court competence to hear the case.
Since being filed in November last year, the lawsuit has gained considerable attention due to the stature of both defendants. PT Aplikasi Karya Bangsa was a start-up company providing on-demand multi-service and later digital payment technology platforms operating under business name GOJEK, which started as courier delivery as well as two-wheeled ride-hailing services provider. GoJek later grew significantly and becoming both the first unicorn and decacorn from Indonesia, and now operates also in Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and Philippines with approximately 170 million users in total.
PT Tokopedia on the other hand, is one of the most visited e-commerce platforms in Indonesia, with claims of having more than 350 million product listings from 9.7 million merchants as well as about 100 million active monthly users. Itself another Indonesian-based unicorn company, in May 2021 Tokopedia confirmed merger with GoJek to establish a new entity named PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia (GoTo), a public company that serves as the holding company for the older entities.
In October 2021, however, a criminal trademark infringement report against GoTo was filed by another local company named TFT to the Regional Police of Jakarta. As the owner of a registered trademark “GOTO” in class 42, covering vast range services related to computers and data processing, TFT claimed that the use of “GOTO” as business name for the new holding company that combines technology-based services of GoJek and Tokopedia is a clear infringement against his exclusive rights. TFT’s GOTO was applied for registration in March 2020 and was registered in 2021 under registration number IDM000858218.
GoTo itself also claimed that it also has duly filed registration applications for their own “GOTO” marks along with the variants in multiple classes, which process are now still ongoing at the Indonesian Trademark Office.
In November 2021 TFT also filed a trademark infringement lawsuit at the Commercial Court of Central Jakarta against both PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa and PT Tokopedia. In the lawsuit, aside from demanding both defendants to cease from using the mark “GOTO”, TFT also sought for damages in the total amount of IDR 2 trillion (approximately USD 130 million). TFT also demanded the court to order the Indonesian Trademark Office to reject trademark applications filed by GoTo pertaining to their own “GOTO” brands.
On a side note, in December 2021 another IP-related lawsuit was also filed against GoJek (PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa) as well as its co-founder, Nadiem Makarim, who is currently the Minister of Education of Indonesia, by an individual named Hasan Azhari. Hasan claimed to since 2008 he already devised a plan for a ride-hailing services model business like what GoJek has been using up to its prominence today. Hasan even went on to record his business model concept as a Copyrighted Work at the Indonesian Copyright Office back in 2008. Accordingly, Hasan is now suing GoJek as well as its founder for copyright infringement.
Hasan’s copyright lawsuit is currently still in the process at the Commercial Court of Central Jakarta.