Increase in Government Filing Fees for IP in Indonesia

by mirandah

The Indonesian Government, on 15 February 2007 issued the Government Regulation No. 19 Year 2007 amending Regulation No. 75 Year 2005 concerning Tariff of Non-Tax National Income at the Department of Law and Human Rights. The Regulation comes into effect within 30 days from the date of issuance of the said regulation. Therefore, starting from 16 March 2007 the new tariffs for non-taxable national income will be imposed on the Department of Law and Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia and all of its subordinating bodies, including the Directorate General of Intellectual Property.

One of the consequences of the enforcement of the Regulation No. 19 Year 2007 is the increment of the Official Fees.

Trademark Renewals

The most significant increase is for Trademark Renewal Application of Non-Small and Medium Enterprise, which includes all renewal applications filed by foreign companies or nationalities. The increase of the official fee for the aforesaid application reached 150%. Under the Regulation No. 75 Year 2005, the official fee for Trademark Renewal Application was only IDR 600.000, while under the new Government Regulation the official fee for Trademark Renewal Applications are divided into the Renewal Applications filed by Small and Medium Enterprise of IDR. 750.000, and the Renewal Applications filed by Non-Small and Medium Enterprise of IDR 1.500.000.

Trademark Filings

There is increment in official fees for other Trademark Proceedings viz. filing new trademark applications, particularly for multiple-class trademark applications. This feature was missing in the Government Regulation No. 75 Year 2005 and the official fee for regular trademark was IDR 450.000 per application. While under the Government Regulation No. 19 Year 2007, the official fees for trademark applications are divided in to:

Official Fee for regular trademark application (1 class per application), remains the same as in Regulation No. 75, i.e. IDR 450.000.

Official Fee for multiple-class applications is IDR 950.000, for 2 classes per application and IDR 1.500.000, for 3 classes per application.

However, it should be that until this moment the Indonesian Government has not issued any other implementing regulations regarding the requirements and procedures of the multi-class applications, such as the examination proceedings, time frame for examination, granting, etc.

Furthermore, we must also notice that the aforesaid Government Regulation only determines the Official Fee for Application and not for the Renewal of multiple-class trademarks. More to the point, we can see that the fee for filing multiple-class application is higher than regular trademark application (1 class per application). The more classes filed altogether in one application, the higher the official fee. For example if an applicant files 3 classes as 3 separate applications, he will only have to pay IDR 1.350.000, while if he files the 3 classes as multiple-class application, the Official Fee will be IDR 1.500.000.

In the light of the above, for the time being, i.e. until the Indonesian Government issues a new Government Regulation as to the requirements and procedures for multiple-class trademark applications comprehensively, it is recommended to file the regular trademark applications, having the criteria set as regards the requirements for prosecution.

Patent and Copyright Filings

Apart from the trademark proceedings, increments of fees apply to patent proceedings as well. One of the increased official fees for patent proceedings is for administration of patent application filed through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which has been raised from IDR 500.000 to IDR 1.000.000. Besides revising the existing official fees for Patent Proceedings, in the Government Regulation No. 19 Year 2007 also impose official fees for some proceedings which was not regulated in the Government Regulation No. 75 Year 2005, namely:

  1. Fee for earlier publication up to 6 (six) months of IDR 200.000 per application;
  2. Fee for the delay in submitting application requirements of IDR 200.000 per application;
  3. Application for compulsory licensing of IDR 2.000.00 per application; and
  4. Application for regional patent implementation of IDR 2.000.000 per application.

The other field of Intellectual Property Rights where the Government Regulation No. 19 Year 2007, affects Official Fees is Copyright. The official fee for application of registration of copyright works is subjected to 167 % increment, from IDR 75.000, – to IDR 200.000. Furthermore, for application of registration of copyright works, on computer programs official fees has been increased to IDR 300.000, from the previous official fee of IDR 150.000.