The name Holland Bakery is being contested by two entrepreneurs. The case has spread from
Yogyakarta to Surabaya. This is all because the trademark office issued
permits for two identical names.

A fire scene surrounded by police tape is common. But, if the shop's nameplate is wrapped in yellow ribbon, it certainly raises a big question. Especially when not just one or two, but 12 shops were affected!
That unfortunate fate befell Holland Bakery in the City of Heroes.

The sealing of the nameplates has inevitably caused losses for Mustika
Citra Rasa, the owner of the Holland brand. "Our turnover has dropped by 20%," said Paulus
Tejakusuma, Director of Mustika Citra Rasa, which owns more than 30 Holland Bakery outlets in Indonesia. Not to mention his worry that customers
might think Holland Bakery is not halal or something similar. Paulus has been named a suspect for counterfeiting the Holland Bakery brand by the Surabaya Police.

It was F.X. Kiantanto, an entrepreneur from Yogyakarta, who reported Paulus
to the Surabaya Police. At the end of January, Kiantanto reported that
Abadi Kurnia Citrarasa, the franchise holder of Holland Bakery from Mustika
Citra Rasa for East Java, had committed trademark infringement.

"They say these 12 bakeries intentionally put up the Holland Bakery nameplate,"
said Iptu Nunuk Sundarwati, an investigator from the Special Crimes Investigation Unit of the Surabaya Police. That is why the police quickly sealed all Holland Bakery shop nameplates.

Originating from a dispute in Yogyakarta

Although their nameplates were sealed, the bakeries suspected of infringement
were allowed to continue selling. "What is not allowed is to display the Holland Bakery nameplate on their shops," stated Nunuk. According to him, the Holland
Bakery service mark is held by Kiantanto. Meanwhile, Mustika Citra Rasa, in Nunuk's records, is the holder of the Holland Bakery brand for cakes and bread. Thus, Mustika is still allowed to sell bread branded Holland Bakery, also known as Roti Belanda.

The dispute between Mustika Citra Rasa and Kiantanto began a year ago in
the "City of Gudeg" (Yogyakarta). At that time, Paulus visited Yogyakarta with the intention of opening a Holland Bakery branch there. To Paulus's shock, he discovered that on Jalan Sudirman, Yogyakarta, there was already a cafe and bakery labeled Holland Bakery. However, the logo was different. Mustika's Holland version had a windmill logo, while this "Holland van Jogja" had a picture of two pairs of tulips. So, in February 2001, Paulus reported the owner of Holland Bakery Yogya, namely Kiantanto, to the DIY Regional Police.

A year after being reported, the law enforcement officers took action. The case file was transferred from the police to the prosecutor's office. Then, the prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Kiantanto. The charge was trademark counterfeiting. On February 2, 2002, Kiantanto was forced to be detained in the prosecutor's detention center. The well-known entrepreneur in Yogya, who also owns Borobudur Plaza and Kafe Jogja-Jogja, was released on February 21, 2002.

After being released from detention, it was Kiantanto's turn to immediately report the counterfeiting of the Holland Bakery brand in Surabaya to the Surabaya Police.

The ownership of the Holland Bakery brand is indeed complicated. Mustika Citra Rasa had applied for registration in 1987, but it was rejected by the Directorate General of Copyrights, Patents, and Trademarks (HCPM) — now Intellectual Property Rights (HAKI). "The reason was that we used a foreign country's name (Holland)," said Paulus. Coincidentally, in 1986, Mustika was involved in a case with entrepreneur Abun Kusuma, who was also interested in using the Holland Bakery brand. Mustika won this case up to the cassation level in 1988.

Armed with the Supreme Court's decision, Mustika reapplied to the HCPM office. It was granted. Thus, since 1990, Mustika has held the Holland Bakery brand for class 30, which covers all kinds of bread and cakes. They even registered the patent for Holland Bakery with its characteristic Dutch windmill logo. Under the old trademark regulations, two types of trademarks, namely commercial and service, were included in a single permit.

However, in 1993, the HCPM office granted the Holland Bakery trademark to
Kiantanto, albeit for a different class, namely 42 (cafeteria, catering, etc.). Furthermore, in 1996, Kiantanto once again obtained the trademark Bakeri Holan for class 42. This was done to anticipate the Indonesian naming convention required by the government at that time. Paulus had already changed his product name to Bakeri Holan a year earlier.

Previously disputed with Orion as well

According to Omar Dani, the prosecutor from the DIY High Prosecutor's Office, both Kiantanto and Mustika actually had weaknesses. The investigation found that Kiantanto was not entitled to produce goods under the Holland Bakery brand. This is because his permit was solely for a place of business. Therefore, he did not violate the law when opening a bakery named Holland Bakery.

The problem arose when Mustika discovered that Kiantanto was selling Holland Bakery branded bread in his shop. Kiantanto's action violated Article 82 of Law No. 19/1982 concerning Trademarks. According to Omar, Kiantanto's position was actually very weak. This is because, for three years after obtaining the Bakeri Holan trademark, Kiantanto had not used the name even once. Only last year did Kiantanto establish an outlet named Bakeri Holan in Borobudur Plaza. Therefore, "The ownership should have been revoked," said Omar, explaining that a trademark that is not used for three consecutive years is automatically revoked.

Not only that. According to Omar, Kiantanto also has a negative reputation. Several years ago, the entrepreneur from the "City of Gudeg" was involved in a dispute with the Orion bakery. The latter is a bakery in Solo famous for its Mandarijn cake. Kiantanto displayed Orion's Mandarijn name and logo on the nameplate of his bakery on Jalan Sudirman. "But at that time, it ended peacefully," said Omar. Well, since that peace, Kiantanto changed the name Mandarijn to Holland Bakery.

Despite this, the Surabaya Police turned a blind eye. Nevertheless, Paulus refused to back down. Now he has reported Kiantanto to the East Java Regional Police for defamation.

Source: Hendrika Y., Sri Sayekti, Aryo Wisanggeni, Bayu Wardhana