EAST JAVA POLICE CONFERENCE ON IPR LAWS

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SUBJECT: EAST JAVA POLICE CONFERENCE ON IPR LAWS


1. (SBU) Summary: Several branches of the GOI and East
Java government cosponsored an IPR seminar on March 4 to
educate East Java area police chiefs on the importance of
IPR to Indonesia and its economy. Senior GOI and
provincial officials used persuasive arguments and data to
try and motivate 50 to 60 local police chiefs to more
rigorously enforce existing Indonesian IPR laws. After the
seminar, East Java Police Chief Herman Sumawiredja met
privately with the local police heads and urged them to
step up their IPR enforcement, noting that IPR actions and
arrests were easy and would count towards promotions. He
added that Indonesia National Police Chief Sutanto had
personally called him to complain about the East Java
police's poor performance on IPR enforcement. According to
Sumarwiredja, Sutanto said that Vice President Kalla is
adamant police enforce IPR laws more rigorously and the VP
is embarrassed by Indonesia's continued status on the U.S.
Special 301 Watch List. End Summary.

Surabaya IPR Seminar
--------------


2. (U) ConGen Surabaya attended a March 4 seminar on "Law
Enforcement Socialization of Intellectual Property Rights".
The Ministry of Law and Human Rights, the East Java Police,
Vice Presidential Secretariat, Indonesia Music License
Association (KCI),and the Indonesian Video Recording
Association (ASIREVI) jointly sponsored the program. The
main presenters were Prof. Abdul Bari Azed, Director
General of Intellectual Property Rights for the Ministry of
Law and Human Rights, Hersadwi, Head of Economic Crimes
Unit of the East Java Police, Henry Sulistiyo Budi from the
Vice Presidential Secretariat. A subsequent panel involved
Ansori Sinungan, Wihadi Wiyanto, secretary general of
ASIREVI and Munif Bahasuan, acting chairman of KCI. The
event drew fifty to sixty East Java local police department
heads, and a dozen officials from local government law and
human rights' offices.


3. (U) The opening speakers focused on educating the
audience on IPR by defining IPR, activities categorized as
violating IPR, and other general information about IPR.
According to Hersadwi, East Java Police seized 600,000
pirated VCDs and arrested 361 suspects for IPR crimes
during 2005. He admitted these were small numbers compared
to the total number of illegal VCDs in East Java, estimated
at over 20 million. However, police, with help, will
continue their war on pirated products, he affirmed.


4. (U) Prof. Bari explained that the number of IPR crimes
remain high in Indonesia, especially from corporate
properties, such as brand name consumer products and
optical media products (VCDs, DVDs, CDs, CDROMs). The
number of pirated optical media products available in
Indonesia has increased sharply since 2003, he noted. In
2005, there were an estimated 331 million pirated optical
media products sold and only 39.7 million legal optical
media products sold in Indonesia. Bari explained that as a
member of the WTO/TRIPS Agreement, Indonesia has committed
to fight against IPR piracy. Effectively enforced IPR laws
will lead to economic development, will attract investment,
and will encourage producers, music composers, and
businesses to produce new ideas and jobs. Reducing IPR
piracy will also keep Indonesia from suffering economic and
trade penalties levied by other countries, he explained.
However, Bari acknowledged that IPR enforcement in
Indonesia represents an implicit economic dilemma:
Indonesians have limited purchasing power to buy legal,
more expensive products. Bari also detailed the lengthy,
complex, and expensive process for companies to acquire IPR
protection in Indonesia.


5. (U) Ansori Sinungan admitted to his audience that the
fight against IPR piracy in Indonesia faces many obstacles,
such as the East Java office of Law and Human Rights' small

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discretionary budget of USD 100 to combat IPR piracy.
Budget constraints led his office to partner with police
offices to provide support for IPR law enforcement. Other
obstacles to effective IPR law enforcement, according to
Sinungan, are limited understanding of IPR and relevant
laws by police, lack of consumer awareness of IPR laws, and
limited enthusiasm among police to enforce the laws. Like
Bari, Sinungan underscored the high costs of poor IPR
enforcement in Indonesia: his office has fielded many
complaints from producers and investors about IPR, and some
said they would not continue to invest in East Java. He
encouraged attending police officers to lead the fight
against IPR piracy to support economic development in
Indonesia. He also detailed Indonesian IPR Law UU 29/2004,
which complies with international standards.

The Meeting After the Meeting
--------------


6. (SBU) On March 8 EconOff Williams met with Ansori
Sinungan to further discuss IPR issues. According to
Sinungan, directly after the March 4 seminar, local police
officials were called in to a private meeting with East
Java Police Chief Sumawiredja. Sumawiredja reportedly gave
them an "inspirational" speech regarding IPR enforcement
expectations in East Java. Sumawiredja apparently noted
that he had been contacted directly by the Indonesian Chief
of Police Sutanto regarding the East Java police's poor IPR
enforcement record. According to Sumawiredja, Sutanto said
that Vice President Yusuf Kalla is adamant that IPR laws be
enforced rigorously, and noted that Indonesia's placement
on the IPR priority watch list is an embarrassment and
hurts investment. Sumawiredja reportedly said that IPR
arrests should be easy and officers conducting arrests
would receive extra "points" towards promotion. He also
threatened that a "lack of progress" on IPR enforcement
would reflect negatively towards promotion.

Comment
--------------


7. (SBU) Sumawiredja prodding his subordinates to take
action on IPR violators in East Java using promotions as
the stick is a new management strategy. The effort by
Sumawiredja illustrates the concern of senior GOI officials
with IPR piracy and movement of their directives to local
levels. There was a noticeable reduction in the
availability pirated optical media products in three of the
four primary retail markets for pirated optical media
products recently surveyed by EconOff Williams. The most
dramatic reduction was at Tunjungan Center. Previously,
there were 80 to 100 small shops selling pirated optical
materials. Now many of those shops are closed with only a
handful still openly selling pirated products. According
to shop owners, the police came through one to two months
ago and confiscated their pirated inventory and warned not
to continue or face arrest. However, there have been no
recent media reports of large seizures of pirated optical
media or consumer products or IPR related arrests by East
Java police and ConGen Surabaya business contacts still
complain bitterly about the availability of cheap Chinese
knockoff products available locally. It is still too early
to tell if the relatively new police chief is committed
enough to IPR enforcement to maintain the positive momentum
in Surabaya and to motivate East Java local police
officials to take positive action on IPR piracy in their
districts.

PASCOE