International: Indonesia—A Difficult Jurisdiction For Protecting IP Rights?

Kin Wah Chow, Principal, Rouse in his article published on conventuslaw.com says, "Indonesia is known to be a difficult jurisdiction in protecting intellectual property rights."

In this connection, Chow discusses the pragmatic approach towards dealing with trademark infringement in the region and a suitable strategy to tackle online infringement.

Calling the implementation of the enforcement framework for intellectual property rights in Indonesia far from ideal, Chow recommends starting with a cease and desist letter to secure compliance as a first step. 

The best strategy to tackle online infringement in Indonesia is to file takedown requests with the platforms. However, Chow warns that this exercise may not seem the most workable as it is common for the infringer to resurface under a different merchant identity.

Speaking of sanctions, the author explains trade mark infringement may incur civil liability and criminal sanctions that include:

Imprisonment of up to five years and/or a fine (currently up to IDR 2 billion) where the infringer has used a mark that is identical to the registered trade mark, and

Imprisonment of up to four years and/or a fine (currently up to IDR 2 billion), where the unauthorised use is not identical but shown to be similar.
 

Source: Enforcing Trade Mark Rights In Indonesia