Trademark is a key element in a business. A Trademark as the identity of a product is a marketing tool that determines the people’s perception of a product. Therefore, building a brand image is not an easy feat and requires a lot of time, effort, and funds put into it.

Indonesia administers protection of Trademarks to Trademark owners, with the main requirement being that the Trademark has to be registered to the Directorate-General of Intellectual Property (DITJEN KI). The issue after registration would be that there is a time limit to the registered status. Protection of Trademarks in Indonesia lasts for 10 years since the registration date. Afterwards, Trademarks’ registration status can be extended for another 10 years.

Trademarks whose registration statuses aren’t extended run the risk of losing the protection and subsequently businesses might lose their rights to the Trademarks. Since registration is an absolute requirement to ownership of Trademarks, by registering a Trademark, one’s ownership of it is recognized in absolute terms  by the country where the Trademark is registered, including Indonesia.

In extending a Trademark’s registered status, the following are the things to be considered:

1. Trademark of goods or services is still in use (in trade) by the owner;
2. The time period to apply for extension of Trademark’s registered status is minimum 6 months before the expiration date or 6 months after the expiration date;
3. Trademark is not in the middle of any disputes;
4. The party authorized to apply for extension is the holder of the Trademark rights or the person that has been given the authorization to do so by the holder.

Documents that must be prepared in order to apply for extension are:

1. Statement letter stating “Trademark is Still in Use”;
2. Power of Attorney letter to the Intellectual Property Consultant (optional for Indonesian nationals and mandatory for foreign nationals);
3. Scanned copy or physically copy of Trademark certificate;
4. Identity of Trademark rights holder;
5. Filled out Trademark extension form;
6. Trademark label (logo/name of Trademark).

The above documents are to be prepared and brought to the DITJEN KI offices in Kuningan, South Jakarta. Trademark owner would then be asked to pay the extension fee and deposit the Trademark Extension PNBP fee according to the tariff determined through the virtual number give by DITJEN KI.

The process of Trademark extension from application until the statement letter of Trademark protection extention is issued is approximately 6 months for those applying by themselves directly to the DITJEN KI offices. For those applying through a registered IP Consultant, the process would only take approximately 3 weeks (given that there are no drawbacks). This is possible because registered IP Consultants have their own online accounts to access the DITJEN KI online registration system.

Andrew Betlehn is an Intellectual Property Consultant registered in Indonesia and has been actively practicing as a consultant since 2012. Through Betlehn Law Office, Indonesian and foreign nationals alike can get easier access in extending their Trademarks’s registered status in Indonesia. There is no need for Trademark owners to go to the DITJEN KI offices. An email containing the required documents would suffice. Betlehn Law Office will help and guide you through the process of preparing the documents and filling out the forms correctly. On top of that, Betlehn Law Office will help you in doing the searching process of registered Trademarks and submitting the registration documents to DITJEN KI. Afterwards, Betlehn Law Office will monitor your Trademark’s extension process until it’s finished. Betlehn Law Office is the answer to all of your Trademark registration troubles in Indonesia.