Trademark Trap: How Indonesia’s First-to-File System Paved the Way for BYD’s $597M Denza Standoff

JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — The escalating multi-trillion-rupiah trademark battle confronting Chinese electric vehicle champion BYD Company Limited in Jakarta underscores the chronic legal risks foreign conglomerates face navigating Indonesia's constitutive intellectual property regime.

Local claimant Raden Reza Adi has slapped BYD Company Limited alongside six dealership and retail entities with a mammoth Rp 9.5 trillion ($597.48 million) lawsuit at the Central Jakarta Commercial Court. Claiming sole proprietary rights over the "Denza" mark for Class 12 passenger vehicles, the plaintiff has demanded the immediate withdrawal and nationwide recall of all vehicles distributed under the nameplate.

The high-stakes clash lands as BYD accelerates its commercial rollout in Southeast Asia's biggest automotive hub, demonstrating how domestic intellectual property loopholes can disrupt multi-billion-dollar foreign direct investment. Under Indonesia’s strict "first-to-file" system, legal title belongs to whoever registers a marque first at the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DJKI), regardless of whether an overseas applicant created the brand earlier or commands worldwide fame. The resulting dynamic has made the country a persistent minefield of trademark squatting, leaving global giants vulnerable to protracted litigation or forced rebranding.

A Long History of Global Brand Traps

The legal predicament BYD now confronts mirrors high-profile brand disputes that have snared multinational corporations in Indonesia over recent decades.

American comic powerhouse DC Comics famously suffered an initial defeat when the Supreme Court upheld local snack maker PT Marxing Fam Makmur’s 1993 registration of the "Superman" mark for wafer biscuits, throwing out the superhero creator's 2018 cancellation lawsuit on procedural power-of-attorney grounds. However, after DC Comics refiled in 2020 under a corrected legal strategy, the Central Jakarta Commercial Court reversed the status quo by designating "Superman" a well-known global brand, ruling that the local company had registered the name and flying character in bad faith, and successfully restoring exclusive Indonesian rights to DC Comics.

Similarly, luxury apparel icon Ralph Lauren spent decades ensnared in complex litigation against local registrants who had secured the rights to "Polo Ralph Lauren" and the iconic horseback polo player motif under domestic registries in the 1980s and 1990s. French fashion titan Pierre Cardin faced an identical hurdle, losing its trademark contest after Indonesian courts affirmed that a local businessman had lawfully registered the designer’s name in the apparel class under constitutive principles.

From Rejection to a Rp 9.5 Trillion Counter-Claim

BYD’s legal journey in Jakarta followed a similarly turbulent path. The Shenzhen-based automaker initially sued local firm PT Worcas Nusantara Abadi in January 2025 to invalidate the domestic registration of the Denza brand. The Central Jakarta Commercial Court threw out the petition in April 2025, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court on procedural error-in-person grounds after the registry revealed ownership had already transferred from Worcas to Raden Reza Adi.

BYD launched a renewed cancellation lawsuit against both Worcas and Adi on June 8, 2026, seeking to annul registration certificate IDM001176306. However, Adi struck back on Sept. 8, 2026, registering Case No. 101/Pdt.Sus-HKI/Merek/2026/PN Niaga Jkt.Pst to demand joint and several liability across seven defendants, including PT BYD Motor Indonesia, PT BYD Auto Indonesia, and retail network partners PT Arista Elektrika Indonesia and PT Bumi Hijau Motor. Following summons delays, court hearings are scheduled to resume on Feb. 23, 2027.

Pivoting to 'Danza' to Protect Domestic Sales

Faced with judicial delays, BYD Motor Indonesia enacted a tactical workaround on Oct. 1, 2026, introducing the nameplate "Danza" across domestic marketing channels.

Luther Panjaitan, Head of PR and Government Relations at BYD Motor Indonesia, defended the phonetic shift as a proactive measure to shield commercial operations while maintaining legal defenses in court.

"What else do we need to prove to reinforce brand ownership if the matter simply comes down to who filed first or second?" Panjaitan said in a public statement.

While the Chinese electric vehicle titan retains the Denza marque across international markets, the multi-trillion-rupiah dispute in Jakarta proves that in Indonesia's courts, a first-mover filing can still override global corporate stature.