US embassy cable - 05YEREVAN680

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000680 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, EUR/ACE, EB/IPC 
PLS PASS TO USTR KUHLMANN, KLEIN, USPTO JURBAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, KIPR, AM 
SUBJECT: ARMENIA CREATES IPR ENFORCEMENT UNIT 
 
1. (U) THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE 
PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
2. (SBU) The GOAM has established an Intellectual Property 
Rights (IPR) enforcement unit under the police department, 
filling a structural gap in their IPR protection regime.  In 
an April 13 meeting, Armen Azizyan, the Head of Armenia's 
Intellectual Property Agency (IPA), told us that the IPR 
enforcement unit has already taken actions against trademark 
counterfeiters of Armenian bottled spring water.  Worries 
about corruption within the enforcement unit rose almost 
immediately, however, and the unit has failed to take any 
action against pirated music, films or software, which are 
ubiquitous in Armenia.  Azizyan acknowledged that TV 
stations are still broadcasting unlicensed programming, and 
local companies are producing unlicensed CDs, DVDs and 
software.  Although we welcome the establishment of an IPR 
enforcement unit, the government of Armenia has a long way 
to go to provide meaningful enforcement of intellectual 
property rights.  End Summary. 
 
---------------------------- 
ENFORCEMENT TEAM ESTABLISHED 
---------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) After much debate among the Ministries about the 
propriety of the police (rather than the courts) enforcing 
IPR, the police have appointed 77 officers to the IPR 
enforcement unit.  That's far too many in the opinion of 
Azizyan, who quipped, "I didn't ask for an IPR army." 
Azizyan is going back to the police and to the Minister of 
Justice to try to have the force reduced to ten officers. 
"People want the job [in the IPR unit]," said Azizyan, "It's 
bad that they want it."  Azizyan's fear is that the unit 
will become a bastion of corruption in law enforcement, and 
officers will use the unit to control the piracy industry 
for their own purposes. 
 
4. (SBU) Azizyan told us that the enforcement unit is 
focused on trademark enforcement.  Currently, the unit may 
only enforce IPR violations upon a complaint of the 
aggrieved party, something more common in trademark issues 
(which involve local brands) than in copyright cases (which 
involve international music, films and software).  Pirated 
DVDs, CDs, and software are ubiquitous in Armenia:  finding 
licensed merchandise is nearly impossible.  But under 
current law, Azizyan claims that the enforcement unit cannot 
take ex officio action (i.e., it cannot act without a 
complaint from a representative of the artist or a competing 
vendor of licensed merchandise). 
 
---------------------------------------- 
"SLOW REGULARIZATION OF TV BROADCASTING" 
---------------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) An American owned television station, Armenia TV, 
complained to us that they had to compete with local 
stations that regularly aired unlicensed programming.  When 
asked, Azizyan said that he was familiar with the problem 
and said that TV piracy is gradually diminishing over time 
as Armenia's stations are filing legal complaints against 
each other.  "We let the TV stations regulate this problem 
themselves," he said.  Azizyan said that he is not worried 
about broadcast piracy because competing stations can 
protect themselves by filing legal claims in court. 
(Comment:  This has proven true in the case where a radio 
station was pirating original content from another local 
radio station.  When several stations are pirating content 
from the international media, however, Azizyan's argument is 
less convincing.  End Comment.)  No state agency is charged 
with regulating broadcasts for copyright infringement.  The 
television and radio regulatory body has claimed in the past 
that IPR enforcement was outside its regulatory purview. 
 
------------------------- 
LAWS ON IPR TO BE AMENDED 
------------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) Although enforcement, rather than legislation, has 
been Armenia's major weakness in IPR protection, the 
Intellectual Property Agency is in the process of revising 
Armenia's laws on Copyright, Industrial Property Rights and 
Trademarks and Patents.  In some part the revisions will 
implement Armenia's accession to the WIPO treaties.  But the 
agency is also proposing important changes that affect 
enforcement.  Azizyan will propose decreasing the threshold 
for starting criminal procedure against manufacturers and 
vendors of pirated goods.  He also said that he would 
support an amendment clearly allowing ex officio enforcement 
of IPR violations, but added that opponents in the Ministry 
of Justice, including the Minister, would probably remove 
this amendment. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
COMMENT:  THE GOAM SHOULD MOVE FORWARD ON ENFORCEMENT 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
7. (SBU) While we welcome the Intellectual Property Agency's 
push behind creating a responsible IPR enforcement body and 
strengthening the laws to include ex officio enforcement, 
the Government of Armenia as a whole is lagging behind its 
international obligations to protect intellectual property. 
It's true that a crackdown on informal venders of pirated 
goods in Yerevan would be like squeezing a balloon:  others 
would pop up elsewhere.  But the government should be able 
to prosecute manufacturers of pirated goods and hold 
television and radio stations accountable for their 
broadcasts.  In making these points to the government, we 
also point out that a solid first step would be for the 
government of Armenia to use only licensed software in its 
offices, a practice that Azizyan claims the Intellectual 
Property Agency is unique in following. 
EVANS