Three Defendants In MGI's Necklace Pendant Brand Counterfeit Case Begins Trial In West Jakarta District Court

Photo: Special

JAKARTA - The first trial of the criminal case of trademark counterfeiting of a pendant necklace belonging to PT Millionaire Group Indonesia (MGI) began to be heard at the West Jakarta District Court, Wednesday, July 20. The case is registered with numbers 610/Pid.B/2022/PN.Jkt.Brt, 611/Pid.B/2022/PN.Jkt.Brt and 612/Pid.B/2022/PN.Jkt.Brt in the West Jakarta District Court.

According to the West Jakarta District Court Case Investigation Information System, quoted on Thursday, July 21, three defendants were presented in this trial, namely Sumardi Nur, Haresh Tahilram Budhrani and Nuryatin. All three were charged with falsifying the trademark to the detriment of the rights holder of the original mark.

At the trial chaired by the panel of judges, Dede Suryaman, SH., MH, the Public Prosecutor (JPU), Yan Ervina, charged the three without the right to use the MGI mark that was not his.

"The defendant without right to use a mark that is essentially the same as a registered mark belonging to another party for similar goods and or services produced and or traded," said Public Prosecutor Yan Ervina.

For this act, the three were charged with Article 102 of Law 20 of 2016 concerning Marks and Geographical Indications.

Article 102 of Law 20/2016 states that any person who trades in goods and/or services and/or products that is known or reasonably suspected to know that the goods and/or services and/or products is the result of a criminal act as referred to in Article 100 and Article 101 shall be subject to criminal sanctions. with a maximum imprisonment of 1 (one) year or a maximum fine of Rp. 200,000,000.00 (two hundred million rupiah).

This trial was also continued with the examination of the Reporting Witness (PH), namely Deny Mulyana Suhanda, SH, and Yohan as the President Director of PT. MGI and Yulianti as witnesses. During the examination, the reporting witness explained the chronology and legal issues of the criminal act of counterfeiting trademarks.

According to Deny, this legal action was taken because PT MGI had suffered billions of rupiah in losses due to the sale of counterfeit products under the MCI brand, which also resulted in a declining turnover.

"The findings in the online market and marketplace are that every day there are more and more actors everywhere trading counterfeit MCI branded products and there are also actors who dare to claim that the products they sell are genuine MCI brands. As a result, there has been a sharp decline in turnover from our clients. ," he said.

This was confirmed by the Director of PT MGI, Yohan Wibisono. "We suffered billions of rupiah in losses from the actions of these counterfeiters," he explained.

PT. MGI, Beny Nurhadi explained that the incident occurred around November 2020 in West Jakarta with complaints of alleged trademark counterfeiting which was found to have been sold by the perpetrators without permission from PT MCI through online markets and marketplaces.

Beny recounted that the case began when the witness was looking on social media for someone who was suspected of selling a MCI life secret man pendant necklace.

Then the Witness bought the MCI brand pendant life secret necklace around November 2020 through the online shop in the shopee application with the account name riniishopindo, through the webgenerationgoldindonesia.com and biotherapy.life.

"The witness then checked the pendant necklace and it turned out to be fake," said Beny.

Beny admitted that he continues to monitor and observe the trial of this trademark counterfeiting case.

"Why this case is continued until the court process is so that it becomes a trigger for anyone not to use trademark rights belonging to other parties that are already protected by law," he explained.

Furthermore, Deny explained the MCI brand owned by PT. MGI is clearly protected by law in Indonesia, especially the Trademark Law and Geographical Indications.

"Thus, anyone who produces and/or circulates and/or trades and/or buys and sells goods and/or services that have similarities in principle or in their entirety will be subject to legal snares," he stressed.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Legal Counsel for PT. MGI, Ardy Susanto from Solusi Law Office, expresses the highest appreciation to the Indonesian National Police for processing reports and/or complaints from us so that they have reached the trial process in court.

"Hopefully this case will provide a deterrent effect for the perpetrators of brand counterfeiting so they don't repeat their actions in the future," he concluded.