Intellectual property is one of the major trade issues that Indonesia and Indonesians seem to always stumble over when it comes to commercial trades with other nations, especially with the United States. The latest report by the United States Trade Representative on intellectual property protection and enforcement (USTR Special Annual Report 301) puts Indonesia on priority watch list again. This list is used against non-conforming nations as a trade barrier to force countries to implement measures deemed to be adequate, according to US regulators, to reduce and eliminate IP rights violations.
Some argue that the list is arbitrary and ridiculous. Mike Masnick of TechDirt points out the fact that Canada, despite having stricter IP laws than the US, is considered among the worst countries in the world in protecting intellectual property.
An independent organization called Consumers International decided to release its own report on intellectual property enforcement and places Indonesia, Israel, and India on the top three nations that has consumer-friendly IP rights laws ahead of the United States which places fifth.
Consumers International’s IP Watchlist 2012 is a survey of the copyright laws and enforcement practices of 30 countries. The top five countries for consumer-friendly IP legislation were Israel, Indonesia, India, New Zealand, and the United States. The bottom five countries were Jordan, Argentina, United Kingdom, Thailand, and Brazil.
So which is it? Is Indonesia among the worst IP violators? There’s probably little debate about that given the proliferation of pirated properties in the entertainment industry as well as in medicine, energy, toy, and fashion industries, to say the least, but this alternate report also sheds light on the fact that Indonesia’s IP laws are more beneficial to consumers than on most other countries on the list.
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