The Indonesian government through the Indonesian Patent Office is sending letters to at least 7,600 Indonesian patent owners in order to claim unpaid annual fees along with additional interest as soon as possible. More than half of the said unpaid patents are owned by foreign entities.
The unpaid annual fees have been reported to cause financial loss in the amount of Rp150 billion ($12,000,000) up to today.
Pursuant to the Article 115 (1) of the Indonesian Patent (Law of 2001): “If within three consecutive years a Patent Holder has not paid the annual fees, the relevant Patent shall be deemed void commencing from the date constituting the time limit for the payment for the third years.”
Due to this provision, thousands of patents were abandoned years ago through non-payment of the annual fees. However, the patent holder still has the obligation to pay the unpaid annual fees even though the patent is passively abandoned. Otherwise, it will be considered as a debt.
In view of this, it is advisable for the patent holder who is not interested in continuing his patent in Indonesia to file a formal abandonment in writing to Indonesian Patent Office. If not, the Patent Office will maintain the protection of the patent and the annual fees will have to be paid.
In filing the formal abandonment, the patent concerned should be free from outstanding annual fees, or else the Patent Office will automatically reject the filing of formal abandonment. Later, the Patent Office will issue notification of the revocation and expiry date without any further obligation for the patent holder to pay the next annuity fees.
Keyword : Patent Annual Fees, Annual Fees in Indonesia
Source : http://www.managingip.com/IssueArticle/3335641/Archive/Indonesia-Unpaid-patent-annual-fees.html
Written by :
Nadia Am Badar, S.H
Rochmali Zultan, S.H
Am Badar & Partners
JL Wahid Hasyim No 14, Jakarta 10340, Indonesia
Tel: +62 21 398 37314
or +62 21 398 37315
info@ambadar.co.id
www.ambadar.co.id
