Indonesia completed the main parts of its intellectual property legislation during the
1990s and introduced a complete new set of laws between 2000 and 2002 to become
TRIPS compliant23. As so many other areas of law, intellectual property development
has also been affected by the political and economic upheavals the country has been
going through since the late 1990s. On the one hand, piracy rates have been on the
rise again due to increased poverty and the ease with which money can be made from
pirated products. On the other hand, the greater political openness and diversity has
also meant that the task force approach of the past, where intellectual property
reforms could be pushed through easily without worrying about opposition, is no
longer as easy. As in the past, the implementation of the laws remains to be hindered
by a large number of implementing decrees that often take years to be issued24.
Political liberalisation in Indonesia has also meant decentralisation and the transfer of
greater decision making powers to the provinces and districts. These reforms have
also had some effect in the intellectual property field. The government has finally
introduced the long promised branch agencies of the intellectual property office by
authorising local branch offices of the Ministry of Justice to receive applications for
the registration of intellectual property rights. Available since 2001, the submission of
applications at such branch offices has been particularly popular with trade mark
owners