The concept of intellectual property relates to the fact that certain products of human intelligence should be granted the same protection rights that apply to physical property, which are tangible assets. Most advanced economies have legal measures to protect both forms of property.
Definition of Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property (IP) results from a person’s thinking and inventiveness. In a company, intellectual property refers to intangible assets that are owned and legally protected from outside use or implementation without the company’s consent.
Companies must be able to identify and protect intellectual property because it has high value in a knowledge-based economy. Protecting intellectual property means preventing others from taking and profiting from it, which is an important responsibility for any company. Although intellectual property is an intangible asset, it can be much more valuable than a company’s physical assets. Intellectual property can represent a competitive advantage and as a result, is closely guarded and protected by the company that owns the property.
Intellectual property rights are rights to ownership of works derived from human intellectuality from various fields, especially the fields of technology and science.
Why is intellectual property rights important?
This is because intellectual property rights have high economic value and, if not protected, can bring huge losses to entrepreneurs, both material and immaterial losses. For example, if you stumble over the law for using someone else’s intellectual property rights. At the same time, not only will individuals be harmed, if violations of intellectual property rights continue, it will harm the country. This is because other countries will benefit from the intellectual property of the Indonesian people.
Relating to products that will be or have been sold through electronic trading mechanisms (e-commerce) or conventionally. There are several aspects of Intellectual Property (IP) that need serious attention so that trading is carried out in accordance with Intellectual Property law and does not conflict or even violate the Intellectual Property rights of other parties that have already been registered or well-known. This is to ensure that the results of the hard work that has been carried out by an entrepreneur will instead be used up to pay compensation or even compensation due to violations of Intellectual Property rights belonging to other parties.
For this reason, the state, through the current government, should have legal protection for existing goods and services so that people’s welfare can be realized. On the other hand, understanding the legal aspects of Intellectual Property is also needed to encourage legal protection for intellectual works already owned by an entrepreneur. In addition, the existence of legal protection for the intellectual property of the community, both individuals and groups, it can improve the welfare of the community, especially in the economic field.
Types of Intellectual Property Rights
Initially, the chronology of the birth of intellectual works, which are now called intellectual property, are only in the form of trade secrets that are only attached to individuals or groups as long as the trade secrets are not leaked. However, over time, intellectual works were divided into several because they have different concepts from one another.
The intellectual works must have utility value and economic value so that they can be protected by law. Because Intellectual Property Rights are one of the proprietary rights so that they are exclusive given by the state to their creators both in the fields of technology applicable to industry, trademarks, geographical indications, trade secrets, industrial designs, layout designs of integrated circuits, and new varieties of plants.
8 Types of Intellectual Property in Indonesia
There are 8 types of Intellectual Property Rights in Indonesia which is:
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Copyright
Copyright refers to the legal rights of intellectual property owners. In simpler terms, copyright is the right to copy. This means that the creators of the original product and anyone they authorize are the only ones with the exclusive rights to reproduce the work. Copyright is exclusive and declarative, meaning that when the copyright is announced to the general public, it is proof of ownership rights.
The basic concept of copyright includes the following.
- Is a work in the field of science, art, or literature.
- Originality which is a reflection of the creator, but does not have to be 100% new, can be modified with certain creativity and innovation.
- Tangible/fixation of ideas.
- Has economic rights and moral rights, such as the right to reproduce and publish
When someone makes a product that is considered original and requires significant intellectual activity, this product becomes an intellectual property that must be protected from unauthorized duplication. Examples of unique creations include computer software, art, poetry, graphic design, lyrics and musical compositions, novels, films, original architectural designs, website content, and more. One of the safeguards that can be used to legally protect an original work is copyright.
Under copyright law, a work is considered original if the author created it from his own thinking, not plagiarism. This type of work is known as an Author’s Original Work (OWA). Anyone who owns the original work of the author automatically owns the copyright to that work, preventing others from using or duplicating it. Copyrights can be voluntarily registered by original owners if they want to gain an edge in the legal system where necessary.
Not all types of work can be copyrighted. Copyright does not protect ideas, inventions, concepts, or theories. Brand names, logos, slogans, domain names, and titles are also not subject to copyright law. For an original work to be copyrighted, it must be in tangible form. This means that any speech, invention, musical score, or idea must be written down in physical form to be protected by copyright.
The exclusive rights owned by copyright consist of moral rights and economic rights. Moral rights are attached to the creator because of the expertise and integrity of the creator’s work. Meanwhile, economic rights are the rights of creators to announce, reproduce and grant licenses to people who want to use their creations. The term of copyright protection is 50 years since it was announced, and the life of the material is 50 years after the author dies according to the type of creation. It would be nice if all creations produced could be registered and have a creation registration letter, so that if there is a copyright infringement, it will make it easier for the creator to fight for it through legal channels.
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Brand
A trademark is a distinguishable and unique sign used in the trade of goods and/or services, to indicate the source and origin of the goods and/or services. To be accepted in Indonesia, trademarks usually take the form of pictures, names, words, letters, numbers, color compositions, three-dimensional representations, sounds, holograms, or a combination of these elements. A combination of one or more of these elements can be used to create a brand identity. The legal protection given to a brand name is called a trademark.
A brand is seen as one of the company’s most valuable assets. It represents the company’s face, logo, slogan, or publicly recognizable sign associated with the company. In fact, companies are often referred to by their brands, and they become one and the same. A company’s brand carries economic value in the stock market (if the company is public), which influences shareholder value when it rises and falls. For this reason, it is important to uphold brand integrity.
When a company decides to define a brand as its public image, it must first define its brand identity, or how it wants to be seen. For example, a company logo often includes a message, slogan, or product that the company offers. The goal is to make the brand memorable and attractive to consumers. Companies usually consult with design firms or design teams to come up with ideas for visual aspects of a brand, such as logos or symbols.
A successful brand accurately describes the message or feeling a company is trying to convey and generates brand awareness, or recognition of the brand’s existence and what it has to offer. On the other hand, an ineffective brand is often the result of miscommunication.
The use of Mark in intellectual property functions as follows.
- Introducing products from other products
- To promote products
- Product quality assurance offered;
- as product identity.
Products of goods or services produced that can be registered for legal protection must meet several conditions, including the following.
- Not contrary to state ideology, laws, and regulations, morality, religion, decency, or public order.
- Does not contain elements that can mislead the public about the origin, quality, type, size, type, purpose of using the goods and/or services being applied for registration or are names of protected plant varieties for similar goods and/or services.
- Does not contain information that is inconsistent with the quality, benefits, or efficacy of the goods and/or services produced.
- Has distinguishing power from a common name and/or a symbol of public property.
The term of trademark protection is ten years from the date of registration of the trademark application and can be extended.
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Patent
The Patent is the granting of property rights by a sovereign authority to inventors or inventors of their inventions. However, inventors can provide other parties to use their invention with a mutually agreed upon agreement. Patents protect the intellectual property of companies to help their profits. However, patents also function as rights to show the superiority of the company with the innovations that the company makes. The conditions for an invention to be patented are as follows.
- The registered invention is not the same as the previously existing invention.
- The registered invention shows the inventor’s expertise in creating the invention.
- The resulting invention can be produced on a large scale.
There are two types of protection for technical inventions under the Indonesian Patent Law, namely patents and simple patents (utility model).
- Regular Patent. These patents can be obtained from inventions that involve inventive steps and can be applied in the industry. This form of protection is available for products and processes.
- Simple Patent. If the resulting invention is novel, it does not involve an inventive step. This type of protection applies to products, equipment and processes.
The term for patent protection is 20 years from the date of receipt of the patent application, while for simple patents, it is granted for a period of 10 years from the date of receipt of the simple patent application.
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Industrial Design
Industrial Design is a skill in designing products, devices, objects and services. Designers usually focus on a product’s physical appearance, functionality, and manufacturability, although they are often involved much more during the development cycle.
All of this ultimately extends to the overall value and experience of the product or service for the consumer. In addition, an industrial design consists of shapes, configurations or compositions of lines or colours, or lines and colours, or a combination of all that can be used to produce a product, item, industrial commodity or handicraft.
Industrial design requirements that can be registered include the following.
- The registered industrial design is not the same as the existing industry.
- Does not conflict with applicable laws and regulations, public order, religion, or decency.
The term of industrial design protection is ten years from the date of receipt of the application for registration of the Industrial Design.
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Geographical Indications
Geographical Indication is a sign used to indicate the origin of a product. Where the product has characteristics caused by geographical environmental factors, including natural factors, human factors or a combination of these two factors.
Signs used as Geographical Indications can be in the form of labels or labels affixed to the product. The product’s identity is usually displayed in the form of regional names, regions, pictures, words, or a combination of these elements.
Parties that can make applications for the registration of Geographical Indications include the following.
- An institution formed by the community as a representative of the community in the area that produces the product.
- Provincial or district/city regional government.
- The benefits of protecting Geographical Indications are as follows.
- Provide standardization of the resulting product.
- Avoid misuse of geographic indications by irresponsible parties.
- Maintain consumer trust by maintaining product quality.
- Conduct training for local producers, so that the good name of the product can be well maintained.
- The number of products produced is increasing, because of the support from various parties.
- Introducing the area or region where the product is produced to the wider community.
The protection of Geographical Indications applies as long as the good name, quality, distinctiveness and uniqueness of the product are properly maintained. Examples of geographical indications include arrowroot oranges, poor apples and Gayo coffee.
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Integrated circuit Layout Design
An integrated circuit is a miniature electrical circuit containing electronic devices, some or all of the devices and their interconnections embedded in or on a piece of material, usually a semiconductor material such as silicon. Integrated circuits are used as memory circuits for computers and microprocessors.
They are also used in many household and familiar goods and products such as airplanes, cars, washing machines, radios, and cell phones. At the same time, integrated circuit layout design is the three-dimensional placement of some or all of the elements and interconnections that make up an integrated circuit.
The importance of layout design to be protected is that the layout design of integrated circuits results from research developed to create new and valuable designs.
The main requirement for an integrated circuit layout design to be registered is the novelty or originality of the integrated circuit layout design. Integrated circuit layout designs are registered to receive legal protection for a period of 10 years since the first time the integrated circuit layout design is commercially exploited or from the date of receipt of the application for registration.
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Trade Secret
Trade secret is everything related to the company and is not known by parties outside the company. Information that is considered a trade secret gives a company an economic advantage over its competitors and is often the product of internal research and development.
Information that is not known by the public in the field of technology and/or business, has economic value because it is helpful in business activities, and is kept confidential by the owner of the Trade Secret.
Trade secrets can be instruments, patterns, designs, formulas, recipes, methods or practices that are not obvious to others and can be used as a means to create a profitable company offering. The general characteristics of a trade secret are as follows.
- Not a public information.
- Their secrecy provides economic benefits to their owners.
- Their privacy is actively protected.
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Plant Variety Protection
The right to protect plant varieties is a special right granted by the state to a person or group of people, or farmers, or groups of farmers or any institution that has bred or developed any plant variety. Plant breeding is the activity of adding value to wild species or plant varieties through the selection and identification of beneficial traits. However, in the process of plant breeding, although it produces new varieties, the purity of the old varieties is maintained.
While plant varieties are the diversity of species or types of a plant, both in terms of shape, colour, growth, seeds, fruit, and so on, that distinguishes these varieties of the same type or species, at least one different characteristic and does not change if reproduced.
An object protected under a plant variety protection right is a variety of a plant species either produced through marriage or vegetation, including the reproduction of cells and tissues, and the methods or processes used to produce new plant varieties can still be protected under a patent system.
The requirements for plant varieties that can be registered for protection are as follows.
- New or never been traded/distributed before. It has been in Indonesia for 1-2 years, while abroad, it must have been cultivated for 4-6 years.
- Unique or clearly distinguishable from other varieties based on one or more features that are already known to the public, and have been widely distributed when the application for plant variety protection was filed.
- Uniform and stable plant varieties or do not change after being cultivated several times, and for those reproduced through special reproductive cycles, do not experience changes at the end of the cycle.
The rights granted to plant breeders, namely, reproduce seeds, trade, import or export, advertise, and reserve seeds. The protection period is 20 years for seasonal crops and 25 years for all-season crops and is valid from the time you apply.
The eight fields of Intellectual Property (IP), in principle, can be used to protect intellectual works in accordance with the goods or services produced. Specifically for forms of Intellectual Property (IP) in the form of Marks and Copyrights, it can be applied to protect works of all types/fields of business. This is because a brand as an intellectual work in the form of a logo or trade name is of course, used in general for the terms of various types of products/intellectual works.
