Indonesia, for the first time, attended the Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE) meeting held by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland.
“The forum serves as a platform to coordinate with public and private organizations to fight against counterfeiting and piracy,” Law and Human Rights Ministry’s official, Anom Wibowo, noted through a statement, on Friday.
The WIPO forum is also an effort to implement public education, assistance, and coordination to execute regional and national training programs for all related stakeholders and to exchange information on law enforcement issues.
The WIPO meeting is important for Indonesia in the effort to enforce the law in intellectual property as well as eradicate and fight against the distribution of counterfeit goods or piracy, he noted.
Wibowo called to provide a training program and technical assistance to WIPO member countries within the forum to ensure that every country can effectively enforce the intellectual property law, specifically in the rapidly developing internet and digital fields.
Due to rapid developments in information technology, the distribution of counterfeit goods and piracy become more frequently undertaken through e-commerce sites.
“It is this issue that every country has to handle to eradicate cybercrimes, including fraud or distribution of counterfeit goods through e-commerce,” he remarked.
Currently, Indonesia has a task force to handle intellectual property violation. This task force is integrated and coordinated with other law enforcement institutions and ministries, Wibowo stated.
These institutions comprise the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim Polri), Financial Ministry’s Directorate General of Customs and Excise, as well as Communication and Informatics Ministry’s Information Application Directorate General.
There are also the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) as well as the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s Intellectual Property Directorate General.
Formation of the task force aims to prove the Indonesian government’s commitment in providing protection to consumers and producers against the distribution and piracy of counterfeit goods.
The Law and Human Rights Ministry has also made efforts to prevent intellectual property violation, such as by creating an online shopping center free from the distribution of counterfeit goods and the piracy certification program.
Source: Antara News