Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Law and Human Rights drew attention to the low intellectual property awareness among citizens that resulted in numerous related violations.
"Indonesia encounters numerous problems in its efforts to enforce the law related to intellectual property, which include low awareness among the people," the ministry's official, Anom Wibowo, noted in a written statement received here on Friday.
In order to address the issue, the Ministry's Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DJKI) has disseminated information in the physical market and in e-commerce or the digital market in the hopes that merchants would no longer sell counterfeit goods.
"This dissemination will be conducted until December 2021, and we will then enforce the law in January 2022," Wibowo remarked.
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Wibowo highlighted that the program aims to offer people an opportunity to change their business.
He pointed out that Indonesia was already on the Office of the United States Trade Representative's (USTR's) priority watch list (PWL), a list of nations with a high level of intellectual property violations within the last 33 years.
To come off this list, the government had formed Indonesia's PWL Status Mitigation Operation Task Force in Intellectual Property that initially comprised 17 ministries or institutions, though now, it is just five, he remarked.
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"This task force is expected to have a more effective and efficient impact in eradicating intellectual property violations," Wibowo emphasized.
In addition to the task force, the DJKI, through its Directorate of Dispute Solving and Investigation, coordinates with the intellectual property representatives in the ministry's regional offices in Indonesia's 31 provinces.
Thus, it annuls the need for citizens to file their complaints with the central government. Representatives in the region can take action or request for support from the central government to take action if the need arises.
Moreover, the DJKI is currently providing training and education to civil servant investigators (PPNS). By improving the quality of human resources, DJKI is optimistic of more cases of intellectual property violations being solved.
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