INDONESIA: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK MADRID PROTOCOL IN INDONESIA

On October 2, 2017, Indonesia officially entered into the Madrid Protocol at the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The Madrid Protocol for International Trademark Registration was implemented in Indonesia since 6 June 2018.

According to the accession of Indonesia, the regulation has some points of interesting, for example:
– E-filing or manual filing is acceptable for International registrations and the English language can be used in applications.
– The applicant should be an Indonesia citizen, domicile or has a legal domicile in Indonesia, or has clear business activities in Indonesia.
– The term of a formality examination is within 5 days of receipt of an International Application and within 2 months from the date of receipt of an International application to notify the International Bureau.
– The IP Office will inform the International Bureau regarding the result of a substantive examination within 18 months of the notification date of an International Application.
– The third party can submit an objection against provisional refusal decision within 30 days from the date of receipt of the refusal notification from the International Bureau.
– With this regulation, the holders of International Applications are able to file a transformation request within 3 months to the national IP office where their International Applications are canceled -depending on termination of Basic Registration or Basic Application in the origin country, per provision of the Madrid Protocol.

– The holders can replace an existing national trademark registration in Indonesia with International trademarks designating Indonesia. Both registrations will still exist, but the IR holders will receive the protection of the initial rights, following the national registration in Indonesia. [Source: Ipkomododragon]