Counterfeit products are imitation products that are made as closely as possible from the original product. With the increasing need for public consumption, counterfeit products are very popular because by buying counterfeit products we can buy products that are similar to well-known brand products at low prices even though the quality provided is still far from it of the original product.
But are counterfeit products legally sold on the market?
The law regulating the trade in counterfeit or counterfeit products is regulated in articles 100 and 102 of Law Number 20 of 2016 concerning Trademarks and Geographical Indications concerning Trademark Crime. The law regulates all provisions relating to trademarks and sanctions against violators.
Article 100
1. Any person who is not entitled to use the same Trademark in its entirety with the registered Trademark of another party for similar goods and / or services produced and / or traded, shall be punished with imprisonment of up to 5 (five) years and / or a fine. a maximum of IDR 2,000,000,000.00 (two billion rupiah).
2. Any person who is not entitled to use a Trademark which is basically the same as a registered Trademark owned by another party for similar goods and / or services produced and / or traded, shall be punished with imprisonment of up to 4 (four) years and / or a fine. a maximum of IDR 2,000,000,000.00 (two billion rupiah).
3. Any person who violates the provisions as intended in paragraphs (1) and (2) whose goods cause health problems, environmental disturbances, and / or human death, will be punished with imprisonment of up to 10 (ten) years. and / or a maximum fine of Rp. 5,000,000,000.00 (five billion rupiah).
Article 102
Anyone who trades goods and / or services and / or products known or should reasonably be suspected of knowing that the goods and / or services and / or products are the result of a crime as referred to in Article 100 and Article 101. 1 (one) year or a maximum fine of Rp. 200,000,000.00 (two hundred million rupiah).
From legal perspective, it can be concluded that the sale of products that resemble products from well-known or registered brands is a legal threat. However, the criminal acts mentioned in articles 100 and 102 can only be prosecuted if there is a complaint from the injured party because it is a complaint offense. This can be seen in Article 103 of the Trademark and Geographical Indication Law.
Article 103
Criminal acts as referred to in Article 100 to Article 102 constitute offense on complaint.
The conclusion is, this law only applies to people who sell fake or counterfeit products and there is no penalty for buyers, however selling fake or counterfeit products will not be criminalized if there are no complaints from the aggrieved party. As a good citizen, we should buy original products, especially local products, because buying original products means that we respect the producers in order to continue to produce quality products.
Sources:
Indonesian Law Number 20 of 2016 concerning Trademarks and Geographical Indications