The requirements

The requirements for registering a trademark that must be met by the Applicant, such as:

1. Fill out the Trademark Registration Form;
2. Prepare the Applicant's personal data:

• For Individual: Identity Card and Tax ID (for Indonesian citizens); or Passport (for foreigners)/
• For Legal entity: Deed of Establishment of the legal entity/

3. Etiquette/Marks Label;

4. Applicant's signature;

5. Recommendation Letter for Assisted SMEs or Certificate of Assistance for Small and Medium Enterprises (Original) - For Micro and Small Business Applicants;

6. Stamped MSBs Statement Letter - For Micro and Small Business Applicants.

Registration procedure

After all of these requirements have been met, the Trademark registration procedure is as follows:

1. Doing an initial check of the trademark to be registered to minimize the possibility of rejection or similarity to the trademark of another party that has been registered/requested for registration first;

2. Order the Billing Code via the webpage: http://simpaki.dgip.go.id/;

3. Input the Applicant's data and the requirements that have been completed previously;

4. Make Non-tax revenue payments;

5. Create a Marks account;

6. Submit an application for trademark registration online from the Marks account that was previously created, by:

• Input the Billing Code that has been paid previously;
• Input the Applicant’s data;
• Input the data of the Applicant's attorney (if authorized by the Intellectual Property Consultant);
• Input the data of the trademark;
• Input the data on the class of goods and/or services;
• Uploading the required document attachments;
• Conduct a review through the 'Preview' menu;
• Draft Trademark Registration Receipt published/

7. Wait for the status of the application for trademark registration which will be sent by notification letter from the Directorate General of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia.

8. Trademark Certificate issued.

The trademark registration process in Indonesia as a whole takes about 6 (six) months. However, in practice there are often obstacles that hinder the trademark registration process.

Cannot be registered

Trademarks cannot be registered if <3>:

• contradicts to the State ideology, laws and regulations, morality, religion, decency, or public order;
• is similar to, related to, or merely mentioning the goods and/or services being applied for registration;
• contains any element which may mislead the public in respect to its origin, quality, type, size, variety, intended use of goods and/or services being applied for registration or constitute a name of protected plant variety for similar goods and/or services;
• contains description that does not correspond to quality, or efficacy of produced goods and/or services;
• is devoid of any distinctive character; and/or
• constitutes a generic name and/or public sign.

An application for trademark registration will result in rejection by the relevant Minister if <4>:

• substantively similar to or identical with a prior registered Mark of other parties or prior Mark application in respect of similar goods and/or services;
• substantively similar to or identical with a well-known Mark of other parties for similar goods and/or services;
• substantively similar to or identical with a well-known Mark of other parties for different goods and/or services complying with certain requirements;
• not the same type as long as it fulfils certain requirements which are further stipulated by government regulations;
• substantively similar to or identical with a well-known Geographical Indication;
• constitutes or is similar to name or initial of a well-known individual, photograph, or name of legal entity owned by other person, unless under a written consent from its proprietary;
• constitutes as duplication or is similar to name or initial, flag, symbol or State emblem, or both national and international agency, unless under a written consent from the authorities; or
• constitutes as duplication or is similar to official signs or seal or stamp used by a country or Government agency, unless under a written consent from the authorities.