OVERVIEW

Law No. 14 of 2001 on Patent (“Patent Law”) is on the agenda of the House of Representatives to be replaced by a newer law and address current needs. Part of the motivation behind this is to address the dearth of Indonesians who register inventions. In 2012 there were only 541 patents registered in Indonesia, far behind the 415,000 patent applications in China in the same year.

Being included in the 2015 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) and initiated by the government, at a glimpse the Draft Bill on Patent (“Draft Bill”) incorporates more provisions and uses a more reader friendly style in its drafting, evident in the wording it uses compared to the Patent Law. The Draft Bill also introduces international registration of patents, allowing contracting member to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”) to register a patent in their home country, instead of having to do the same in Indonesia. The Draft Bill also incorporates a better structured legal framework and introduces alternative dispute resolution as an additional method to resolve patent disputes.