THE Yogyakarta provincial administration has a way of preventing the region’s batik from being “robbed” by other parties who could claim the traditional cloth as their creations. Through the Sekar Jagad Indonesian Batik Lovers Foundation, this regional administration has over the year patented hundreds of batik motifs produced by the city’s batik makers.

Of its 511 batik motifs, 261 have been registered with the patent office. “The num