The government's anti-piracy programme stepped up a notch at the end of 2009 with three important events taking place in December.
The first was three days of intensive discussion on TV signal piracy issues. Separate seminars on signal piracy and protection of broadcast content organised with the support of the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) brought together officials from Indonesia, sixteen APEC and ASEAN governments, special guests from Europe and the USPTO.
The CASBAA seminar was followed by an international event on signal piracy, regulation and enforcement involving representatives from 16 countries and senior executives from the TV industry, including local and international pay-TV broadcasters MTV, Turner Broadcasting, ESPN and Newscorp as well as the Motion Picture Association and European anti-piracy organisation AEPOC. The focus of the two-day meeting was the damage TV piracy does to creative industries and investment in networks.
These events were followed by a one week conference held by the government's IP think tank, known locally as the National Taskforce. The meeting resulted in an ambitious yet realistic enforcement programme that will see several government agencies working together on IP issues. High on the taskforce's list is improving cooperation between the government agencies responsible for enforcing IP rights.
Cooperation director Ansori Sinungan has been given this task. Top of his list of priorities is coming up with a system for the police, public prosecutors office and Customs to share information about IP cases.
The taskforce is also proposing sentencing guidelines for the courts to try and increase the sentences that are handed out for IP-related crimes.
The biggest challenge for the Taskforce is bringing all government agencies up to the same level as the police, who have historically been the guardians of IP issues. To be effective, the police need the support of the public prosecutors office, which is responsible for prosecuting criminal cases, and Customs, who are responsible for stopping fake products from entering Indonesia. Both are in need of special training on how to handle IP cases.
With a general strategy in place, the taskforce will next start putting in place the programmes required to achieve these objectives. The taskforce will meet again in Jakarta in February.
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| Brett McGuire |
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