Ari Juliano Gema (Ajo) is an Intellectual Property and Entertainment Partner in Assegaf Hamzah & Partners (“AHP”).
Before rejoining AHP, Ajo was a Senior Adviser to the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy for Bureaucracy Reform and Regulation in 2020. He was also previously the Deputy Chairman for Intellectual Property Facilitation and Regulation in the Indonesian Agency for Creative Economy/BEKRAF from 2015 to 2019, and Project Director at Creative Commons Indonesia, an American non-profit organisation and international network devoted to expanding educational access and the range of creative works available for others to be used and shared legally.
Ajo has an extensive experience in advising clients, both domestic and international. He is also active in conducting socialisation and public education regarding intellectual property rights to small and micro businesses, as well as creative communities. He is also active as a mentor in various business incubations and business competitions for start-ups.
EXPERIENCE
- Appointed as the Deputy Coordinator of the Public Communications Team for the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling of COVID-19, before this organisation was dissolved by President Joko Widodo and replaced by the Task Force to Handle COVID-19. Ari was also appointed as the spokesperson for the COVID-19 Impact Handling Task Force at the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and was responsible to communicate the policies and programs of the Ministry in dealing with the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism and creative economy businesses to the public.
- Initiated the Digital Economy Regulation (“RED”) discussion series in 2020. This RED discussion series was aimed to be a discussion forum for stakeholders to prepare for the formation of appropriate regulations in anticipation of digital economy developments.
- Appointed by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) as the Head of the Task Force for Handling Intellectual Property Violations of Creative Economy Products. As the Head of this Task Force, Ari focused on dealing with intellectual property infringement in the music, film, and publishing industries. For the music industry, Ari collaborated with the Indonesian Music Publishers Alliance (APMINDO) to pioneer the development of a digital platform that contains information on Indonesian songs and music as a single point of contact that makes it easier for song/music users to contact their copyright holders to minimise copyright infringement and optimise rights management (mechanical rights). For the publishing industry, Ari collaborated with the Indonesian Publishers Association (IKAPI) and digital marketplace managers to create a screening system for parties who will sell books at digital marketplaces, to minimise the sale of pirated books.
- Actively involved in the preparation of the Presidential Statement on the application for judicial review of Law No. 28 of 2014 on Copyrights (Copyrights Law) to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia (Constitution). The request for review was made against Article 18, Article 30, and Article 122 of the Copyrights Law against Article 28D(1) and Article 28H(4) of the Constitution.
- Actively involved in the discussion and drafting of several laws and regulations related to intellectual property, tourism, and creative economy. Ajo led the formulation and discussion of Law No. 24 of 2019 on Creative Economy and its implementing regulations.
- Carried out many initiatives to eradicate piracy, including establishing and leading a task force in BEKRAF and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy to handle intellectual property rights infringements of creative economic products, with a focus on infringements in the music, film, and publishing industries.
- Provided various support and assistance to the Ambon city government, both in the form of technical training and guidance, as well as physical infrastructure, namely the construction of a music studio at Pattimura University, the construction of an ethnic music performance building at IAIN Ambon, and the revitalization of the Boiratan Studio building. He also led the BEKRAF delegation and the Ambon city government to meet and convince music-based creative cities in various countries to support Ambon to be accepted into the UNESCO creative city network. In October 2019, Ambon was finally designated by UNESCO as a music-based creative city. For his efforts, Ajo received the 2020 Tahuri Award from the Ambon city government.
- Initiated the development of Biima application (BEKRAF’s intellectual property rights mobile app), which is the first mobile application in Indonesia that contains information on intellectual property rights. Biima was launched by the Chairman of BEKRAF, Mr. Triawan Munaf, on 24 February 2016.
MEMBERSHIPS / DIRECTORSHIPS
- Registered as an Intellectual Property Rights Consultant by the Indonesian Intellectual Property Attorneys Association (AKHKI)
- Awarded a scholarship from the Japan Patent Office to participate in the Intellectual Property Rights Training Course for Patent Experts in Japan (2007)
- Awarded a scholarship from the University of Wollongong for Intellectual Property Rights Training (2009)
PUBLICATIONS
- “Membangun Profesi Konsultan Hak Kekayaan Intelektual” (2006)