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March 27, 2020

Indonesian IP Office and Other Government Bodies Limit Operations Due to COVID-19

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Directorate General of Intellectual Property

The Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP), the Indonesian government agency that oversees IP rights in the country, issued its latest notification on March 30, 2020, regarding the limitation of physical contact due to the COVID-19 outbreak. During this period, all DGIP officers are working from home and accessing the system remotely. Therefore, the DGIP is closing their physical counters while optimizing the online channels for IP matters. These conditions will remain in effect until at least April 21, 2020 (Circular Letter No. HKI-OT.02.02-12).

Trademarks

The online system remains available for:

  • New trademark application filings;
  • Response to office actions; and
  • Oppositions and rebuttals.

For all online filings, the original deadlines remain unchanged. Meanwhile, the Trademark Appeal Commission has declared that any appeal deadline falling within the closure period will be extended until the situation is normal (the closure period currently runs until April 21, 2020, unless extended).

Patents

  • New applications can be filed online.
  • Any submission (e.g., formality, response to office action, annuity, etc.) with a deadline in the affected period will be postponed until further notice.

Other

The online filing of copyrights and industrial designs can be conducted normally during this period.

Courts

The Supreme Court has issued Circular Letter No. 1 of 2020 Re: the Guidelines for the Implementation of Duties during the COVID-19 Prevention Period within the Supreme Court and the Lower Judicial Bodies.

The circular encourages every judge to optimize their working-from-home system and the e-court proceedings. Trial of all cases other than non-extendable criminal, military, or Islamic criminal matters are suspended until the prevention period is over. However, the circular letter mentions that judges can determine the urgency of suspension at their discretion. Therefore, the disputing parties in IP cases need to check with the Commercial Court whether the examination of their cases are suspended or not.

National Agency of Drug and Food Control

Offices of the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (NADFC; or in Indonesian, BPOM), remain closed for walk-in filing and consultation until further notice. The last day that their counters were open for service was March 12, 2020, and they officially closed for on-site services from March 16, 2020.

During this period, the NADFC officials remain available for inquiry via email, messaging applications, or phone call, though wait times may vary.

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