Indonesia - Toyota's trademark appeals

Toyota fought a number of cancellation cases against pirate marks in 2011, and the latest one involves its LEXUS brand. Originally it lost in the Central Jakarta Commercial Court, but last week the Supreme Court found in Toyota's favour against a Battam based registrant called Budi concerning his class 30 LEXUS mark for foods.

Toyota had a similar problem in another class earlier in the year reported here.  

This demonstrates the occasional inconsistencies in the decisions of the Central Jakarta Commercial Court. That is not surprising in a civil law system where there is no precedent. But therefore on occasions litigants must accept the unreliabilty of the lower courts and sometimes must appeal to the Supreme Court. The problem is that this can add 18 months of litigation time as well as the cost.