Ahmad M. Ramli, the Law and Human Rights head of Indonesia’s Intellectual Property Rights Directorate General, recently told the Jakarta Post that the government will introduce tough new IPR enforcement measures next year. According to the story, he “said that the government would increase its efforts to combat copyright piracy across the archipelago. They planned to increase the detention period for violating intellectual property rights from the current four years to 10 years. Perpetrators would also be fined Rp 4 billion (US$ 327,895). ‘We will also detain merchants of fake products for four years,’ he said, adding that they would apply sanctions against every mall permitting outlets to sell fake products.”
Ramli told the Post that this was part of a plan to increase the size of the “intellectual property sector” in the Indonesian economy (from 2% to 6% of GDP). Managing IP has reported on recent changes to Indonesian law that also aimed to boost the performance of PI-reliant firms.
However, next year’s planned changes to enforcement will also help Indonesia placate American trade officials. The U.S. Trade Representative’s 2014 Special 301 Report placed Indonesia on the Priority Watch List. Placement on the PWL is the highest level of warning a nation can recive through the Special 301 process before USTR begins a formal trade policy investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act. Furthermore, the report specifically recommended that Indonesia put in place “deterrent-level sentences.” It seems that 10 year sentences plus $327,000+ fines would fit this description.
