Somboon Earterasarun, the director of Tilleke & Gibbins’ Jakarta office, was featured in an online article titled “Indonesia Amends Trade Mark Laws to Improve Efficiency and Enforcement,” by Asialaw Profiles. The article discusses Indonesia passing a new trademark law on October 27 to simplify the application process and to allow for greater trademark protection. The new law came into effect on November 26.

Under the legislation, a trademark application will be published within two weeks from the filing date of the application. A significant change is that the publication stage will occur before the substantive examination stage. This amendment to the existing procedure is a welcomed change, as it could help to speed up the country’s notoriously slow registration process, according to Somboon: “In 2015, Indonesia had over 60,000 trade mark applications, so moving the publication stage up to before the substantive examination will speed up the process.”

While this possibility for enhanced efficiency may be attractive to brand owners, there is still room for improvement in the legal framework. “There is still no provision on customs recognition,” Somboon said. “There is a strong need for collaboration so that export and import goods can be monitored for counterfeits.”

Asialaw Profiles  is a leading guide that provides law firm recommendations and editorial analysis of the region. If you would like to read the full article, please visit the Asialaw Profiles website.