Directorate of Mark and Geographical Indication of the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) recently held a meeting to evaluate the performance of trademark substantive examiners throughout 2023. The meeting spanned four days from August 29 to September 1, 2023, at Jayakarta Suites, Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara province.
Director of Mark and Geographical Indications, Kurniaman Telaumbanua, stated that for the year 2023, up to August 20, 2023, his directorate has managed to finalize substantive examination of 81,469 trademark applications. The number is equal to 67.89% of the designated target for the year. Additionally, Kurniaman also claimed that average time needed to reach first substantive examination from the filing date of an application had been expedited from seven months in 2022 to six months in 2023.
Accordingly, in his opening remarks at the evaluation meeting, the director expressed his appreciation and gratitude towards all of the directorate’s staff at all level. Apart from the achievement, however, the director also admitted that improvement is still needed in various sectors, including in the development of technical guidelines as well as standard operational procedures for examination.
While 130 trademark examiners attended the evaluation meetings, several others were also invited and present, e.g. Chairman of the Intellectual Property Rights Consultant Association Suyud Margono, Academic from Pamulang University Professor Oksidelfa Yanto, and Internal Trademark Legal Experts Didik Taryadi and Adi Supanto.
Separately, the DGIP also held a Focus Group Discussion on Optimizing Settlement of Outstanding Patent Annual Fees. The event was held in Nusa Dua, Bali, from August 31 to September 3, 2023.
So far the DGIP has taken a number of efforts related to outstanding patent annual fees matter, such as validation and reconciliation of data pertaining to state’s receivables, up to intensifying collection by communicating directly with the debtor. Until August 2023, however, remaining unpaid patent annual fees in in the amount of IDR 218 billion, or approximately USD 14.3 million. Settlement rate for patent annuities so far is at 65% from the total receivables.
At the moment, the DGIP is elaborating – among others – the option of total repudiation of outstanding receivables