The Indonesian IP Office – Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) – on May 12, 2023, conducted a ceremony where hundreds of counterfeit products as well as IPR-infringing articles were publicly annihilated.
Director of Investigation and Dispute Settlement of the DGIP, Anom Wibowo, personally led the ceremony, where he symbolically commenced the main program by personally destroy a t-shirt bearing fake Harley-Davidson mark. In his speech at the opening of the event, Director Anom emphasized on the commitment of DGIP that every single counterfeit product as well as IP infringing article that has been confiscated by his office will not be returned or re-used by anyone, and will instead be annihilated to prevent any possibility of abuse or misuse.
Among the confiscated goods that were objects to annihilation at the event were four units counterfeir Honda electric generator machines, 288 packages of fake Sedap sauce, 150.000 pieces of industrial design-infringing plastic packaging, four fake Harley-Davidson wallets as well as 200 pieces of fake Harley-Davidson t-shirts, and eight bottles of counterfeit Castrol motor oil.
The annihilation of products resulted from criminal activities that has been subject to final and binding decision by the court itself is already pursuant to Law no. 8 of 1981 concerning Code of Criminal Law Procedure.
Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to the DGIP, Oda Hiroyuki, who attended the ceremony stated that he was interested to join the event as he considered it very important as a form to display appreciation towards IPR protection in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Assistant to the Economic Attaché at the United States Embassy in Jakarta, Lyle Goode, who was also present at the event, welcomed DGIP’s good gesture through the annihilation as a strong sign of commitment in eradicating distribution of counterfeit products. Goode hoped that the efforts could minimize counterfeiting and IP infringing in Indonesia, which in turn could bring positive effects for business and trademark owners alike.
On a side note, on May 4 prior to the annihilation event, the Operational Taskforce of the DGIP’s Directorate of Investigation and Dispute Settlements, led by Director Anom himself, held a meeting with representatives from both the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) and the US Embassy in Jakarta. AmCham is a business association that represents the interests of more than 300 American companies that operate in Indonesia. The meeting itself was conducted with aim, among others, to identify necessary steps to bring Indonesia out from the Priority Watch List, where Indonesia has been listed since 1989.
Under the Directorate of Investigation and Dispute Settlements, the DGIP is equipped with in-house investigators and detectives who, alongside their counterparts at the Indonesian National Police Force, may conduct their own criminal investigation based upon reports filed by the public.