Intellectual rights violations put all in harm's way

Irawaty Wardany, The Jakarta Post, Ubud

Violation of intellectual property rights does not only hurt jewelry designers but also the people who work for them, a prominent designer of silver jewelry in Ubud said Saturday.

"Intellectual property rights is not only a designer's insurance, but also a safety mechanism to protect the interests of all workers employed by the designer," Natalia Puspita told The Jakarta Post.

She said she disagreed with a statement issued by a local designer criticizing intellectual property rights. The local designer had said designers who applied for intellectual property rights for their designs were lazy and sought maximum profits for minimum work.

"As someone who has come up with an idea, we just want to protect our rights over our own creation. To me, intellectual property rights are similar to human rights," Natalia said.

She insisted violations of the rights would hurt those working for designers.

"As a designer I've put my energy into creating a design and spent time and money to register them. Meanwhile, other people can just copy it using cheaper materials and sell it at a lower price," she said.

This practice, she said, would have negative effects on designers and their companies. One of those effects would be a decrease in the company's revenue. In turn, the decrease would affect the overall welfare of the company's employees.

"We have a moral and financial responsibility to our workers, which is the reason I cannot condone plagiarism," she said.

"If our intellectual property rights are not protected and it leads to bankruptcy, who will take responsibility for the livelihoods of workers and their family members?"

She added she once sued a person for allegedly copying her designs, but said the ensuing legal process brought about a slew of psychological distresses that temporarily prevented her from coming up with new designs.

"The impacts of such an action are more widespread than people think. It will also deter overseas investors from putting their money here," she said.

A copyright infringement case involving a major overseas silver jewelry manufacturer and its former employee is currently underway in Denpasar District Court.

The case caused an uproar among Balinese designers because of allegations the company had registered the copyrights of hundreds of traditional Indonesian motifs and designs. However, Natalia said no one was to blame for it.

"Don't blame other people because of our mistake. Our nation is rich in traditional heritage. Unfortunately, we haven't registered any of it, so we only have ourselves to blame," she said.

She added the government could afford to do so but "the money is always going into the wrong pocket".

"Why doesn't the government take the money stolen by corrupt officials and begin registering our traditional heritage?" she said.