Direktorat Jenderal Kekayaan Intelektual (DJKI) – or the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP), the national intellectual property office of Indonesia, for the fourth time has successfully organized a one-day program named “DJKI Mengajar” (DJKI Teaches), where students of elementary and junior high schools from all over Indonesia were invited to participate in a seminar that would provide them with introduction and insights on intellectual property rights protection.
The 2022 event of DJKI Mengajar was held on Wednesday, 28 September 2022, with around 5,000 students from 170 selected schools in 33 provinces of Indonesia participating. While the official program was centralized in the city of Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province in the island of Sulawesi, approximately 1,500 kilometres from the national capital Jakarta, it was also simultaneously being held in different locations throughout Indonesia. The students received the teaching program in their respective schools, for which purpose the Ministry of Laws and Human Rights had appointed 346 officials from the headquarters as well as regional offices to become IP Teachers that would deliver the materials.
By the end of the teaching sessions, the students participated in an interactive dialogue session via video conference with the Minister of Laws and Human Rights, Yasonna H. Laolly, who was in Makassar to also personally deliver teaching materials in one of the junior high school in the city. During his delivery, Minister Yasonna emphasized on the importance of intellectual property rights, which needs to be understood by everyone from early age.
DJKI Mengajar itself is one of the top programs of the DGIP, integral to the efforts of the office to fulfill the ambition to become a World Class IP Office in the near future.
Still from Makassar, during a seminar held one day after the “DJKI Mengajar” program, Minister Yasonna encouraged local governments in the eastern part of Indonesia to raise local awareness on the importance of intellectual property rights protection. Towards the private sectors, regional governments are encouraged to promote IPR registration – especially trademarks – among micro, small and medium business in their respective region. Local governments are also encouraged to give more attention to potential communal intellectual property assets in the region.
For the province of South Sulawesi in particular, the DJKI has delivered a number of Official Recordation Notice of Communal Intellectual Property such as Lumondo dance from the Regency of Luwu Utara, Mappasitudangeng tradition from the City of Palopo, and Mappadendang dance from the City of Parepare. There are also a number of geographical indications that have been duly registered from the province of South Sulawesi, such as Kalosi Enrekang Arabica Coffee, Toraja Arabica Coffee, Luwu Timur Pepper Corns, and Pulu Rice from Enrekang.
During his visit to Makassar, Minister Yasonna also had the opportunity to present an award of appreciation upon an local non-government organization called AMAN (Alliance of Nusantara’s Indigenous Communities) Toraya, who had dedicated itself in facilitating the registration of 125 types of Toraja wooden carvings at the DJKI as communal intellectual property from South Sulawesi.
With the total population of almost nine millions, the province of South Sulawesi with more than 1,5 million MSME business is considered as the centre of creative industry in eastern Indonesia. The total number of IPR registration coming from this region during the period of 2019-2022 as around 12,000 applications.