Indonesia: Intellectual Property

Under Indonesia’s Copyright Law, Law No. 28 of 2014 on Copyrights, a photograph sits at the intersection of two different legal worlds: the copyright of the photographer, and the image rights of the person being photographed.

For many years, the idea of realizing intellectual property (“IP”) as an ‘asset’ to generate ‘actual money’ in Indonesia existed more as a legislative promise than a practical reality.

The Indonesian Government has issued Government Regulation No. 30 of 2026, introducing significant changes to official fees for intellectual property services administered by the Ministry of Law, effective 1 August 2026. Trade mark fees have increased substantially by 55% to 180%, while patent fees remain stable but include new procedural charges, and copyright filing processes shift toward digital-only submissions.