Famous trademark law in Indonesia

Forever 21 is a trendy US fashion retailer. They sued a local registrant Sudarno Hartono to recover their trademark in Indonesia and won in late November. The court granted their claim that the mark was famous. However their claim was outside the 5 year time limit permitted by the law for famous marks. However because Hartono had registered in bad faith so the claim could be allowed on that basis.

There is a curious oddity of Indonesian trademark law. You must bring a claim based on fame within 5 years of the alleged pirate registration. Outside 5 years you cannot argue fame, only bad faith. But to prove bad faith you need to show a mark is famous to prove a trademark pirate is free riding on your fame. Thus even after the 5 year deadline you still need to prove fame in practice.