Indonesia is a lucrative market for any producer in the world. It is the fourth largest populated country in the world with a total of 252 million people (in which the population is growing with people in their
productive age), and it is the largest economy in Southeast Asia with a gross domestic product of USD 868.3 billion in the year 2013. Therefore knowing the rules on trademark protection in Indonesia is crucial. As also applicable elsewhere, a trademark should be registered before the goods or services are sold in Indonesia in order to protect against infringers.
Discussions about a trademark application must be made confidential and the decision making process should be quick. The overseas parent company must ensure that the trademark is registered in the name of the parent
company. To ensure a maximum control, the overseas parent company must manage the trademark registrations they have in the country where their goods/ services are sold and deal with a trademark attorney directly and should not entrust the trademark management with a local subsidiary, local partner, or distributor.
Indonesia adopts the first to file rule as explicitly stated in Article 3 of the Law Number 15 Year 2001 regarding Trademark issued on 1 August 2001 (“TL”) so any party interested to sell their goods/ services should apply a trademark registration as soon as possible as the increasing number of trademark applications have also increased the chance of being found to be similar in its essential part with a registered mark of another party which will result in the refusal of such trademark application.
To read the article in full please do so through the link below: