In a visit to the KTI production facilities at Mambai village in the Badung Regency, Tuesday, Bedarida showed how plants and natural surroundings provided the background to the production facility. It looked less like a factory and more like an outdoor resort boutique, with the artisans and the production process laid out in natural surroundings.

"I draw my designs from the pakis (a type of fern) and other elements of Bali's nature that I find special here. I never copyrighted anything that I know to have folklore components," Bedarida said.

Bedarida further showed how his designs were original, having been inspired from various themes of nature that are available not only in Bali, but in other parts of the world.

Among the themes are the Naga (in reference to the mythical dragon), which is scaly in design, with accentuated 18 Karat gold plong motifs and the silang (cross), jewelry with woven lattice work and 18 Karat gold dots.

"It could take a month to finish off an agreeable design, and a year to have a finished product ready... so we put a lot of effort into our designs," he said.

KTI is the sole contractor of John Hardy International Ltd., a jewelry company which is currently involved in a legal battle on copyright issues with its former employee, Ketut Deny Aryasa.

John Hardy has accused Deny of illegally copying the company's copyrighted silver jewelry design called "Batu Kali" in his design called "Crocodile Skin".

The case has sparked a heated debate on whether the government and Balinese artisans have done enough to protect the island's traditional arts from being "stolen" after it was revealed in court that the company has copyrighted 800 designs that are allegedly taken from traditional Balinese motifs.

Juliani Simanjuntak, KTI's legal counsel, defended the company.

She explained that traditional motifs such as the Tulang Naga (or dragon skeleton), which many Balinese artisans have accused the company of stealing, was one example of the company's intentions being misunderstood.

She said the company was merely copyrighting the original elements of its designs, the point of confusion being the 3D images of the finished products that the company used to register its designs, which often depicted traditional Balinese motifs.

"And that Balinese motif is in the public domain. We realize that and we will never copyright that. We have always only registered the elements that are originally ours," Juli said.

"Besides, it takes about two years for the Directorate General for Intellectual Property Rights to grant a copyright license. I'm sure they don't give out these licenses without proper consideration," she said.

Meanwhile, about 1,800 Balinese art designs and motifs have been copyrighted in the United States, according to Prof. Dr. I Made Bandem from the Indonesia Arts Institute of Denpasar.

He said these acts would limit the creativity window for many Balinese artists in the future if the government and artisans do not soon cooperate with each other.

Bandem urged the government to immediately create an intellectual property rights agency to facilitate artists in protecting their artwork.

"Otherwise, a lot of copyright issues will begin to emerge against our artists, since so many of these designs have been copyrighted outside this country," he said, as quoted by Antara.

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