Zain Isnaeni Adnan, Jakarta
“California has nothing but a desert and Intellectual Property [IP].” This statement by the American commercial attaché at the Jakarta Business Dialogue in 2009 is also true for other countries with few natural resources but a strong culture of innovation. Hence the rise of Japan, Germany, South Korea and other countries with little or no natural resources. Tiny Singapore utilizes the strength of its financial sector and ease of doing business to compensate for its lack of resources. Jeffrey Sachs even wrote a paper analyzing “the curse of natural resources”. That statement is true for Indonesia — cursed with abundant biodiversity.
Zain Isnaeni Adnan, Jakarta
In the past few years, Indonesia has made some progress in strengthening its IP protection regime by passing new laws and regulations. While, trade mark piracy and copyright and design infringement remain major issues for IP owners, the improving legal environment offers a good opportunity for foreign IP owners with IP rights disputes in Indonesia to re-visit these issues.
Zain Adnan, Jakarta
Global sales of pharmaceutical products in 2004 reached US$550 billion, of which the share of developing countries was just $4 billion.
This is not surprising since major pharmaceutical companies from developed countries spend large sums of money in research and development. They also protect their investment by patenting their inventions.
One of the reasons these companies are so successful is that they collaborate extensively with research institutions in universities and with smaller biotech companies.
Zain Adnan, Jakarta
Before the devastating Dec. 26 tsunami, of the 20 C-130 Hercules airplanes that Indonesia owns, only around six or seven were operational. The required spare parts to repair the remaining aircraft were pending due to the United States arms embargo on Indonesia. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz has said he does not see the embargo ending any time soon.
Interestingly, this dilemma could have been anticipated and prevented if the purchasers of these planes took into account the intellectual property aspects of military purchases. They should have taken into account the required transfer of technology and a possible license to produce parts at the signing of the purchase some 20 years ago.
Zain Adnan, Jakarta
Indigenous plants and herbs such as the Javanese long pepper (cabe Jawa), false daisy (orang aring), Java olive (jangkang) and the cane senna (meniran) are used in traditional herbal medicines and remedies, known as jamu, that can be bought in markets and stores all over Indonesia. Jamu dates back to prehistoric times, when it originated in Java, and is a herbal medicinal system that has been passed down for generations among traditional healers.
Today, jamu is available both in traditional forms, such as tonics, pastes and infused teas, and in modern forms like capsules, tea bags, cosmetics and bodycare products.
Against this historical and cultural legacy, however, a major Japanese cosmetics company applied for and were granted a series patents for products derived from traditional jamu knowledge.