Mastrotto face IP difficulties

. Eddy Widjanarko, head of the Indonesian Footwear Association stated: ‘The police have closed down Mastrotto’s storehouses. The company are not allowed to market products using their name here because it is considered to be violating intellectual property rights.’ The Mastrotto Group have been using the name as a global brand for decades and their leathers are widely used for furniture. Widjanarko added: ‘This sort of thing often happens here. The real owner of a famous brand can’t use their own name in Indonesia because a local company has earlier patented it. Our regulations allow for such a thing to happen.’ In light of this, Suprapto Suwardi, director of Gruppo Mastrotto’s local unit in Indonesia, PT Mastrotto Indonesia, said the firm would cancel their planned increase in leather production for the footwear industry and would proceed only with leather for sofas and seats. According to Anshari Bukhari, Industry Ministry, the government is keeping a close eye on the matter. ‘We’ll find a solution to this problem. We will talk to the Directorate General for Intellectual Property Rights about it.’ Source:www.hidenet.com