Govt Urges Content Creators to Register Their Intellectual Property

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Digital content creators must register their intellectual property with the government before producing a work, stated director of intellectual property collaboration and empowerment at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Daulat Pandapotan Silitonga.

This is especially important since half of Indonesian citizens tend to forget to protect their intellectual rights by registering their products, he noted.

At a Cybertalk event entitled 'Digital Product Intellectual Property' on Saturday, Silitonga said that digital content creators generally think of introducing their product to the public first before registering their intellectual property.

"But all of a sudden, somebody copies them, and even sues them despite their being the original creators," he added.

According to Silitonga, it is imperative that the directorate collaborates with related parties to continue to disseminate information regarding the importance of registering intellectual property.

"It needs to be disseminated so that the people understand and become aware that intellectual property should be registered in order to receive protection and that there is an economical benefit in there," he elaborated.

Co-founder and member of the Indonesian Internet Domain Name Registry (PANDI), Andi Budimansyah, concurred with Silitonga on the registration of intellectual property.

People should keep their idea a secret and register their intellectual property first so that they can get legal protection from the state, he advised.

"When you have an idea to create something, don't immediately tell anyone. You need to create the concept, the idea, the branding, and then register the domain. Do not tell it to anybody else first because someone could steal it," he said.

"Secondly, you should register the intellectual property with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights so that you can receive legal protection," he added.

According to Budimansyah, the practice of registering intellectual property is common among people abroad, with foreigners even registering their intellectual property in the nation, but Indonesian people themselves have rarely done so.

Read: 5 Must-have Skills to Become a Content Creator

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