On 28 December 2020 the Yogyakarta High Court, which examined an appeal filed by the Public Prosecutor’s against the decision of the Bantul District Court in the case of copyright infringement, confirmed the District Court’s sentencing a directress of a private company manufacturing furniture. The directress, whose initials is ASR, was decided guilty for corporate end user piracy.

Previously, ASR was submitted to the Bantul District Court and charged for violating Article 113 of the Law No. 28 of 2014 on Copyright for the use of unlicensed CATIA software for commercial purposes. On 24 September 2000, the Panel of Judges at the Bantul District Court imposed a fine of IDR 80 million to ASR, where if the fine was not paid, the sentence will be replaced by a light imprisonment for 1 (one) month.

The decision of the Bantul District Court was not accepted by the Public Prosecutor. On 1 October 2020, the Public Prosecutor submitted a Memorandum of Appeal to the Yogyakarta High Court. In his memorandum of appeal, the Public Prosecutor requested that the Panel of High Judges decide that ASR be sentenced to 4 (four) months imprisonment and be fined of IDR 100 million with the condition that if the criminal fine is not paid, it will be replaced by a light imprisonment for 1 (one) month. The Panel of Judges at the Yogyakarta High Court apparently decided to take over all legal considerations of the Bantul District Court which were the basis for sentencing ASR and upheld their decision. The High Court did not change the District’s decision.

Responding to the decision of the High Court in this criminal case, Donny A. Sheyoputra, as attorney for a French company who is the copyright proprietor of the CATIA computer software and the Complainant in this case stated:

“Although the criminal sanctions imposed by the Panel of Judges at both the District and High Courts were relatively light, the court decision handed down is still something that we appreciate. It shows that the corporate end user piracy, as alleged by the Public Prosecutor, were legally and convincingly proven. Using any unlicensed CATIA software for commercial purposes is economically detrimental to our client because they have painstakingly developed the software at a significant cost and effort. Hopefully this decision can act as a deterrent for the Accused and a lesson for anyone for not infringing copyrights of other parties.”

“Our client has opened the door for the her to resolve this issue amicably in order to establish restorative justice, but unfortunately there is no common ground between our client and her. By not reaching an agreement and without peaceful resolution for our client and the defendant, we have no other choice. She was forced to accept the consequences of her actions by accepting criminal sanctions imposed by the Bantul District Court and the Yogyakarta High Court,” concluded Donny A. Sheyoputra.

Currently, the decision of the Yogyakarta High Court has been final and binding since the Accused and the Public Prosecutor did not submit any cassation to the Indonesian Supreme Court.