English version translated by XU Xinyuan (Wayne)

On February 27, 2024, Shanghai LANDING Law Offices invited Padot Agustinus Naibaho, an Indonesian IP lawyer, to share his practical experience in intellectual property at LANDING’s Shanghai office. This event was facilitated by LANDING Indonesian branch and received active response from the audience.

Before the lecture, Senior Partner ZHANG Li and Partner SHE Meng of LANDING IP Department, provided Padot with detailed explanations regarding issues related to Chinese patent law.

Then, Padot conducted a keynote lecture on the topic of “The legal system and practical cases of IP protection in Indonesia.” XU Xinjian, LANDING Senior Partner and director of LANDING IP Department, acted as the host of the lecture. Associate YANG Jing of LANDING Indonesia delivered simultaneous interpretation for the lecture.

In the lecture, Padot shared his insights from three aspects: Indonesian IP legal culture, Indonesian legislative system, and Indonesian legal practice disputes.

Padot acknowledged that the awareness of patent protection among local small and medium-sized enterprises in Indonesia is weak with the fact that 80% of patent applications are submitted by foreigners, while only 20% are submitted by Indonesians.

In terms of legislation, the threshold for patent applications in Indonesia is relatively low, with only a slight novelty required for successful application. Furthermore, patent infringement may result in criminal penalties, with a maximum sentence of up to 7 years. Indonesian patent law lacks the sequence in which civil and criminal measures can be applied by patent holders. They can pursue both measures simultaneously. In practice, many patent holders often do not resort to civil litigation for remedies but instead opt for criminal reporting as a means of extorting suspected infringing companies. As a result, the reported or accused parties are often compelled to comply. Conversely, based on the relevant case search in the past recent years, criminal law provisions on patent infringement are rarely applied in practice, with hardly any reported or accused parties being convicted. In light of this, Associate Padot suggests that the law should be amended so that law enforcement can only take compulsory measures against accused companies once a civil judgment declaring the invalidity of the patents in question has been issued.

Finally, Padot shared several cases he dealt with and engaged in a heated discussion with LANDING colleagues present. This lecture facilitated communications between Chinese and Indonesian lawyers on intellectual property legal issues, accelerating LANDING’s pace towards “strong internationalization” and benefiting the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and Chinese in Indonesia.