Patent shall mean an exclusive right given by the State to an inventor for his invention in the field of technology, for a certain time, in which he shall himself exploit the invention or give his approval to any other person to exploit the same (Article 1 point 1, Patent Law, as amended by Law No. 14 on August 1, 2001).
Invention is an inventor’s idea that is poured in any activity of solving a specific problem in the field of technology either in the form of a product or process, or an improvement and development of a product or a process.
Inventor is a person or several persons acting together implementing an idea poured in an activity resulting in an invention.
Patent applicant is an inventor or other party as a recipient of an invention, by means of an assignment, who is applying for a patent to have protection against an invention.
Patent holder is an inventor as the owner of patent or a recipient of such rights from the owner of patent or a subsequent recipient of patent from the person mentioned above, who is registered in the General Register of Patents
Patent License is a permission granted by the Patent holder to another party by means of an agreement based on the grant of rights to enjoy the economic benefit of a patent that is protected for a certain period of time and certain requirements.
Patentable Inventions
Any products, processes, improvements and developments of products or processes can be applied for patents as long as they are new, involve inventive step and industrially applicable. Products include chemical compounds and microorganisms while processes (through which a product is manufactured) includes non-biological and microbiological processes.
As to Simple Patent Application, only products and mechanical devices can be applied for patents. A simple patent shall be granted for any inventions which are new and industrially applicable.
In Indonesia, a patent shall not be granted to the following inventions/creations:
Processes or products being contrary to public order, morality and the existing laws and regulations;
any method of examination, treatment, medication, and/or surgery applied to humans and/or animals;
business methods;
any theory and method in the field of science or mathematics; or
(i) all living creatures, except micro-organism; and (ii) any biological process which is essential in producing plant or animal other than non-biological process or microbiological process;
any theory and method in relation to computer software;
any aesthetic creations;
schemes;
presentations of information;
creations and methods for performing mental acts, playing games and doing business.
Duration of Patents
Patents in Indonesia, have a duration of 20 years from their filing date (and for simple patents, 10 years from their filing date), subject to payment of renewal fees and not being invalidated.
Patent Annuities
Once the Directorate General is satisfied with your application, they shall issue a “Notice of Allowance”. At this stage, the applicant should start to pay the patent maintenance fee. During the life of the patent (20 years from their filing date for standard patent, and 10 years from their filing date for simple patent), you have to pay the said maintenance fees annually. Learn more..
Patent Appeal Board
An appeal may be filed against the refusal of a patent application. A request for appeal shall be filed in writing to the Patent Appeal Commission, not later than three months as of the date of the notification of refusal of the patent application. If the Patent Appeal Commission refuses the appeal, the applicant can still file an appeal with the Commercial Court not later than three months after receiving notification of refusal.
Rights & Obligations of A Patent Holder
Article 16 of the Patent Law No. 14 of 2001:
A patent holder shall have the exclusive right to exploit his patent and prohibit any other party who without his consent:
a. in case of product-patent: makes, uses, sells, imports, rents out, delivers, or supplies for sale or rental or delivery of the patented product; b. in the case of process-patent: uses the patented production process to make products and commits other activities as referred to in point a.
In the event of process-patent; such prohibition against any other party who without his consent commits the import of products mentioned above shall only apply to imported products solely produced from the use of the pertinent patent process.
Exempted from the above provisions if the use of said patent is for the education, research, experiment, or analysis, as long as it does not harm the normal interest of the patent holder.
A patent holder shall be obliged to make products or to use the process that has been granted a patent in Indonesia, unless the making of the product or the use of the process is only suitable to be implemented in a regional scale. This exemption may only be approved by the Patent Office if the patent holder has submitted a written request that is accompanied by the reasons and evidence issued by the authorized agency.
The requirements regarding the exemption and the procedure of submitting the said written request shall be regulated further by a Government Regulation.
For the management of the validity of a patent and the registration of licenses, the patent holder or license holder shall be obliged to pay the annual fees.
Transfer of A Patent
A patent or the ownership of a patent may be transferred in whole or in part by: a. inheritance; b. legacy; c. will; d. written agreement; or e. other reasons justified by the law.
The transfer of a patent should be accompanied with the original patent documents together with other rights pertaining to the relevant patent. All forms of patent transfer must be recorded and published. Any transfer of patent, which is not recorded with the Patent Office shall not be valid and effective.
The transfer of right shall not obliterate the right of the inventor to have his name or other identity included in the relevant patent.
Patent License
The Patent Holder shall be entitled to give a license to another person pursuant to a license agreement for performance of acts referred to in Article 16 of Patent Law No. 14 of 2001.
Unless otherwise agreed, the scope of the license shall cover all acts as referred to in Article 16 which shall be effective during the term of license, and shall be valid for the whole territory of the Republic of Indonesia.
Unless otherwise agreed, a patent holder may continue to perform by himself or give a license to any other third parties to perform the acts referred to in Article 16.
A license agreement shall not contain provisions that may directly or indirectly be detrimental to the economy of Indonesia, or contain restrictions which hamper the capabilities of the Indonesian people to master and develop technology in general and particularly with respect to invention for which patent has been granted. The request for recordation of any license agreement which contains such provisions must be refused by the Patent Office.
A license agreement shall be recorded and published, with the payment of a fee. In the event a license agreement is not recorded at the Patent Office, such license agreement will have no legal effects on a third party.
PCT (Patent Co-operation Treaty) Application
If you want to sell your invention worldwide, you might consider applying for patents in other countries. Patenting an invention in Indonesia only protects you in Indonesia. Nobody can profit off your invention in another country if your invention is patented there. If you plan to patent the invention in other countries, we have a network of foreign associates around the world who are available to assist our clients protect and enforce their invention abroad.
The Patent Co-operation Treaty or PCT is an international agreement for filing patent applications having effect in up to 117 countries. Under the PCT, an inventor can file a single international patent application in one language with one patent office in order to simultaneously seek protection for an invention in up to 117 countries throughout the world. Type of protection available via PCT is only standard patent.
