Filipino designer pursued over copyright violations

JAKARTA: Police are set to employ a diplomatic approach to pursue a Filipino man who allegedly stole intellectual property belonging to an Indonesian advertising company he was employed by for nine years.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Rudi Setiawan, a detective with the National Police, said police would work with the Foreign Ministry to have the suspect "extradited" to Indonesia, as he was believed to returned to his hometown in the Philippines.

Carlo Tuazon Sardes was added the police wanted list after advertising company CV Wishing Well reported he had stolen several advertisement designs belonging to the company, and distributed them via the Internet.

"The suspect will be charged with having violated the 2008 Law on the Internet and Electronic Transactions, and the 2002 Law on Intellectual Property," Rudi said.

Wishing Well staff member Rudy Irwansyah said Carlo, who was the company's chief designer between 2000 and 2009, was being sued for having disseminated advertisement designs via the Internet without the permission of his company, the owner of the intellectual rights to the designs.

Iman Sjahputra who accompanied the advertising company in the case, said his client wanted the suspect brought to justice. The law on intellectual property carries a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment, while the Internet and electronic transactiom law carries a maximum penalty of 12 years imprisonment or Rp 12 billion fines. -JP