January 24, 2023
Indonesia’s current Trademark, Patent, Industrial Design, and Copyright Laws require all intellectual property (IP) license agreements to be recorded in order to have binding force for third parties. Since the enactment of Government Regulation No. 36 of 2018 on Recordation of IP License Agreements (GR 36/2018), recordation of IP license agreements has been carried out by Indonesia’s Directorate-General of Intellectual Property (DGIP). Even before the issuance of GR 36/2018, the DGIP had started receiving applications for recordation of IP license agreements after the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (MOLHR) issued an IP recordation implementing regulation under MOLHR Regulation No. 8 of 2016 on Requirements and Procedures for Recordation of IP License Agreements. However, as the mechanism for processing such applications had not been determined by the DGIP, the department left the requests unprocessed until the issuance of GR 36/2018. Prior to that, the preferred alternative was to file a letter of intention to record the license agreement with the DGIP so that related parties could rely on the letter in the absence of a regulation. This article outlines the general requirements for IP license recordation in Indonesia and considers how the current system works with the country’s laws and regulatory environment for copyrights—particularly the necessity to obtain proof of copyright ownership prior to recording a copyright license agreement. Overview of IP License Agreements As noted above, IP license agreements must be recorded in order to be binding for third parties. License agreements that are not recorded will not have legal effect against third parties, although they are still legally binding for the contracting parties. For an IP license agreement to be eligible for recordation under GR 36/2018, it must meet the following main requirements: The licensor must not grant a license if the term of protection of the