The Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP), Ministry of Laws and Human Rights, in its headquarter in Kuningan area, South Jakarta, granted an audience to Jessamyn Honculada, an expert from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), who was on the mission to report the outcome of a research conducted by WIPO as requested by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The research was in support of the plan for harmonizing intellectual property system in the ASEAN region, and the current part was particularly aimed at the system for registering industrial design rights among ASEAN countries, which consists of – in alphabetical order – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. IP harmonization plan for ASEAN itself in general is in line with the ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Action Plan (AIRAP) 2016-2025.
Jessalyn stated that as outcome of the research, there are 16 recommendations on registration formalities of industrial design protection system that need to be followed-up by intellectual property offices of the ASEAN countries, including Indonesia’s DGIP. The sixteen recommendations comprise registration mechanism, costs, communication/information sharing, appointment of proxies, applicants, applicant information, address/notification, prior disclosures, priority claims, part of designs, postponement of publication, requirements to obtain filing date, correction, design appearance, publication details of registered designs, and terms of protection.
Jessamyn in particular suggested that DGIP’s website should be supplemented with English language pages to attract foreigners in utilizing Indonesia’s IP protection system. Jessamyn also suggested that industrial design application in Indonesia can be provided in bilingual by accommodating both the Indonesian and English languages.
With regards to obtaining Filing Date for each application, Jessamyn suggested four requirements that need to be fulfilled by every applicant, which are written application, name and address of the applicant, proposed design, and payment of fees, with other requirements such as power and attorney and declaration of entitlement to follow.
Director of Copyright and Industrial Design of DGIP, Anggoro Dasananto, welcomed the suggestion presented by the WIPO expert, to be studied and discussed internally by his agency. In the mean time, Indonesia is currently discussing a bill for new industrial design law that is intended to replace the existing one issued in 2000.