"Trademark registration is important," Laoly said during the "Yasonna Listening" event, which was attended by micro, small, and medium enterprise players, artists, students, and others, here on Wednesday.
The ministry's Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DJKI) often faces issues regarding the registration of brands by individuals not affiliated with the founders of the brands, he said.
When an individual, understanding a brand's huge potential, registers a brand with the directorate general and the registration is accepted, the actual brand founder may lose the brand if they have failed to register their brand earlier, he explained.
He then highlighted a case where a local player deliberately registered a foreign brand though the brand was not expanding its business in Indonesia.
"IKEA had been involved in a dispute when a local party registered (their trademark) earlier here, despite our later findings that the party who registered had malicious intent," Laoly said.
To avoid similar disputes, entrepreneurs or anyone with particular works related to intellectual property must register their brand or trademark with the directorate general, the minister added.
He said that registering intellectual property, including physical property, songs, or other forms, with the directorate general will ensure it is protected by the relevant laws.
"I hope that our awareness to register our trademark will increase," he remarked.
Earlier, Laoly had spoken to around five thousand students from several Indonesian regions about intellectual property in a series of DJKI activities at the Makassar PAM Elementary School (SDN).
The minister said that various innovations and intellectual property developed by the nation's children must be registered promptly for obtaining a copyright certificate.
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Translator: M Zulfikar, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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