US embassy cable - 04YEREVAN2210

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IPR: PIRACY DEMARCHE DELIVERED

Identifier: 04YEREVAN2210
Wikileaks: View 04YEREVAN2210 at Wikileaks.org
Origin: Embassy Yerevan
Created: 2004-10-06 11:52:00
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Tags: ECON ETRD KIPR KPAO AM WTRO
Redacted: This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS YEREVAN 002210 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, ETRD, KIPR, KPAO, AM, WTRO 
SUBJECT:  IPR: PIRACY DEMARCHE DELIVERED 
 
Ref:  STATE 214134 
 
1. (U) Sensitive But Unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
-------- 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
 
2. (SBU) Per reftel we delivered talking points on 
piracy of intellectual property to Deputy Minister 
of Trade Tigran Davtyan, October 6.  Davtyan 
expressed interest in the Strategy Targeting 
Organized Piracy (STOP) and said that he and the 
Minister are always ready to work with us to address 
the problem of piracy in Armenia.  (Note:  Pirated 
optical disks --music, films, and software -- are 
ubiquitous in Armenia.  End Note.) 
 
3. (SBU) Davtyan added that the Ministry of Trade 
has been pressuring the police to instate a proposed 
Intellectual Property Enforcement Team.  Although 
the Ministry of Finance has set aside money for the 
team, other parts of government, notably the 
Ministry of Justice, are resisting the idea. 
Critics claim that the team will simply be another 
place for corrupt police who seek only to collect 
bribes.  Davtyan also said that any pressure to 
enforce IPR laws would work best if met by supply 
side alternatives:  licensed copies of western CDs 
or DVDs are currently impossible to find in Armenia, 
and the economy cannot support international prices 
for licensed merchandise.  Unless some Armenian 
could work out some way of getting licensed IP goods 
cheaper, any enforcement effort would be like 
squeezing balloon, Davtyan said. 
RICHTER 

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