Copyright is an exclusive right for an author, or the recipient of the right, to publish or reproduce his creative work or to grant permission for said purposes, without decreasing the limits according to the prevailing laws and regulations.

Publication means the reading, broadcasting, exhibition, sale, distribution or dissemination of work, by utilizing whatever means including the internet, or by any manner so that such work is capable of being read, heard or seen by any other person.

Reproduction means to increase the number of a work, either as a whole or its substantial parts using either the same or different material, including the changing of the form or mode of a work permanently or temporarily.

Anybody doing any of the above without permission or licence is infringing copyright.

Author means a person or several persons jointly upon whose inspiration a Work is produced, based on the intellectual ability, imagination, dexterity, skill or expertise manifested in a distinctive form and is of a personal nature.

Copyright Holder means the Author as the Owner of the Copyright, or any person who receives the right from the Author, or any other person who subsequently receives the right from the aforesaid person.

Our Copyright Law protects all types of original creative work in the field of science, arts and literature, such as

1. books, computer programs, pamphlets, typographical arrangement of published works, and all other written works;
2. sermons, lectures, addresses, speeches and other works of utterance;
3. visual aid made for educational and scientific purposes;
4. songs or music with or without lyrics;
5. dramas, musical dramas, dances, choreographic works, puppet shows, pantomimes;
6. all forms or art, such as paintings, drawings (including motives, diagrams, logos), engravings, calligraphy, carvings, sculptures, collage, and applied arts;
7. architecture includes among others arts of building drawing, art of miniature drawings, and arts of model buildings;
8. maps;
9. batik art;
10. photography;
11. cinematographic works including documentary movies, advertisements, reporting, or narrative movies that created with scenarios, and cartoon movies;
12. translations, interpretations, adaptations, anthologies, data-base and other works as a result of changing of form of mode.

The Indonesian IP Office and our Copyright Law allow for registration of works. A copyright registration can also serve as prima facie evidence in a court of law with reference to disputes relating to copyright. As stated in Article 5 point 1 of  the  Copyright Law No. 19 of 2002, unless proven otherwise, the person deemed to be the Author is:
a. the person whose name is registered in the General Register of Works at the Indonesian IP Office; or
b. the person whose name is mentioned in a Work or published as the Author of a Work.

Indonesia has ratified The Berne Convention for the Protection of Artistic and Literary Works (The Berne Convention) with the enactment of the Presidential Decree Number 18 of 1997. This treaty  requires each country to provide “national treatment” to citizens of other member countries. Thus, works originating in Indonesia (that is, works the author of which is a citizen of the Republic of Indonesia or works which were first published in Indonesia) must be given the same protection in each of the other member countries of The Berne Convention as the latter grants to the works of its own citizens. According to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, literary and artistic works are protected without any formalities in the countries party to that Convention. Thus, WIPO does not offer any kind of copyright registration system. A created work is considered protected by copyright as soon as it exists.

The Berne Convention has been signed by over 150 countries. We have a network of foreign associates around the world who are available to assist our clients protect and enforce their copyrights abroad. List of member countries can be accessed from the World Intellectual Property Organization: http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/%20berne/trtdocs_wo001.html

Besides the Berne convention, Indonesia has also ratified the following international treaties/conventions on Copyright:

1. The World Intellectual Property Organization Copyrights Treaty (WCT) with the enactment of the Presidential Decree Number 19 of 1997, deals with protection for authors of literary and artistic works, such as writings and computer programs; original databases; musical works; audiovisual works; works of fine art and photographs; and
2. The World Intellectual Property Organization Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) with the enactment of the Presidential Decree Number 74 of 2004, protects certain rights related to copyright i.e. rights of performers and producers of phonograms.