The intellectual property office of Indonesia – Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) – recently held the 71st ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC), which took place in Lombok, one major island of the archipelagic province of West Nusa Tenggara. The event itself is a regular forum where delegates from national intellectual property offices of ASEAN member countries meet and discuss important issues on intellectual property rights development throughout the region.
A number of agendas were discussed during the 71st AWGIPC, including the progress of Scooping Study previously set out to identify AWGIPC’s priority areas, preparation for upcoming negotiation on Upgraded IP Framework Agreement, implementation status of the ASEAN IPR Action Plan 2016-2025. Also discussed were potential for developing the action plan beyond 2025, along with supports and coordination among ASEAN members as well as dialogue partner countries.
ASEAN members are now consisting of – in alphabetical order: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam; with Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste have been included as an observer states. Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, United States, as well as the European Union are considered as dialogue partners within various frameworks.
Director General Min Usihen as the head of DGIP emphasized on Indonesia’s preparedness in supporting all programs as agreed upon within the ASEAN IPR Action Plan 2016-2025, along with plans for beyond 2025 in order to anticipate the rise of new technologies that would affect ASEAN’s IPR landscape. In her written statement, Min confirmed that currently Indonesia has already been leading in several initiatives of the Action Plan, such as copyrights; genetic resources, traditional knowledges and traditional cultural expression (GR-TK-TCE); and IPR helpdesk.
For GR-TK-TCE in particular, Min stated that Indonesia’s take on leading the discussion is based on the consideration of the country’s experience on IPR enforcement in relevant fields, due to Indonesia’s rich cultural as well as natural diversities. Min also reported to the forum that as of July 7, 2023, DGIP has signed a cooperation agreement with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for the establishment of an Indonesian IP Academy. The institution would bear the role of disseminating IPR information to the public, as well as educating stakeholders on IPR matters. The implementation for IP Academy initiative itself was delayed following its initial submission the 63rd WIPO General Assembly meeting in Geneva, on August 30, 2022.
According to Min, following the Indonesian IP Academy, all ASEAN member countries now are encouraging Indonesia to help prepare for establishing an ASEAN IP Academy, which is planned to be ready after 2025.