Es Teh Indonesia, or PT Esteh Indonesia Makmur (“Es Teh Indonesia”), has been buzzing around social media these past few weeks. They sent a warning letter to one of the netizens who allegedly spread ‘hate speech’ against one of their products online. 

The question we should ask is are they entitled to seek any legal remedy?

Legally speaking, in order for one to seek any legal remedy caused by hate speech, they firstly must prove the legal relation. In this case, the legal relation is the trademark ownership itself, Es Teh Indonesia.  

As we know from Law No. 20 of 2016 on Trademark and Geographical Indications (“Trademark Law”), there are provisions stipulating names that cannot be trademarked. One of them, based on Article 20.f of Trademark Law, is a prohibition against any generic terms to be trademarked. However, in this case, what Es Teh Indonesia has registered is the set of terms “es.teh Indonesia”. They added “.” in between es and teh to differentiate the brand from being generic. 

Further, we decided to check the Directorate General of Intellectual Property’s website and found that the brand Es Teh Indonesia has successfully been registered and is currently waiting for approval. However, we have found out that the brand Es Teh Indonesia was registered under a person’s name, instead of the company’s name, PT Esteh Indonesia Makmur. In a nutshell, the answer is yes, the brand Es Teh Indonesia is entitled to be registered as a trademark.

But is Es Teh Indonesia entitled to seek any legal remedy against the above-mentioned netizen? 

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. Thank you. 

The above writing should not be construed as our legal opinion. Any use of it, partly or entirely, should firstly be consulted with us, through our Partner, Ron Reisman. Otherwise we, RSPS, cannot be held liable.

Should you have any questions, feel free to contact us through:

Ronaldi Reisman (Co-Founding Partner): rreisman@rspstrategic.com

Gustaf Josua (Associate): gjosua@rspstrategic.com