Despite having lost the trademark dispute case between cigarette companies at the Kepanjen District Court (PN), PT Jaya Makmur, the owner of the Gudang Baru brand, continues to pursue legal remedies. Yesterday, accompanied by their legal counsel, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Gudang Baru continued to monitor the trial at the Surabaya Commercial Court.
The trademark dispute was scheduled to enter the rejoinder hearing stage yesterday. However, the hearing, which was supposed to take place at 13:00 WIB, was postponed because the panel of judges, chaired by Ainur Rofik, was still presiding over a criminal trial.
Yusril Ihza Mahendra explained that his party was forced to file a lawsuit at the Surabaya Commercial Court because Gudang Garam lacked good faith to resolve the issue internally. Even though, from a corporate perspective, Gudang Baru is just a small cigarette factory that is not a match for the renowned cigarette company from Kediri.
"We have met directly with Gudang Garam, and even proposed cooperation. There was a response, but this issue will continue," he said when met at the Surabaya District Court.
According to Yusril, since the first trial, PT Jaya Makmur, as the brand owner, has provided evidence related to the brand license of its products in the form of Gudang Baru trademark certificates from HAKI (Intellectual Property Rights) of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. However, his party is still waiting for the dispute process to be completed.
"I even served as an expert witness in this case. If there are still problems, HAKI should be sued, because they are the ones who issued the certificate for Gudang Baru," explained Yusril.
Furthermore, regarding the product design, which is also said to be nearly identical, Yusril assured that there were no issues. He proved this by stating that PT Jaya Makmur had applied for an industrial design license for the cigarette product. "Yes, it has been applied for, and there will be an industrial design certificate later," he asserted.
So, where is the similarity according to Gudang Garam, which the plaintiff claims is piggybacking on the name? The constitutional law expert explained that he could not specify. However, the main issue of the dispute is related to the use of the word 'Gudang' in the two cigarette brands.
"It's like media names, there's Indonedia media and also Nusantara media. Later, anyone using the name 'media' again can be sued," he explained with a laugh.
As is known, the Kepanjen District Court ruled in favor of PT Gudang Garam as the plaintiff in the case of ownership of its cigarette brand. This decision was fiercely responded to by the defendant, who appointed Yusril Ihza Mahendra as legal counsel.
PT Jaya Makmur is also undertaking other legal processes to fight back, by continuing the dispute to the Surabaya Commercial Court. They are confident that the case will be resolved favorably.
"Gudang Garam has started to open up. Mr. Ali Khozin, the owner of PT Jaya Makmur, has also made efforts to achieve a good outcome for the mutual benefit," stated Yusril. (arn/rum)
Source: beritametro.co.id
