US embassy cable - 05YEREVAN1307

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001307 
 
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: GOAM VETS NEW COPYRIGHT LAW 
 
 
(U) THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE 
PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.   (SBU) The Head of Armenia's Intellectual Property 
Agency, Armen Azizyan, has presented a proposed new 
copyright law to give the public and the international 
community a chance to comment before he submits the law to 
the National Assembly during the 2005 fall session.  Azizyan 
noted (correctly) that although the draft law is WTO- 
compliant, as is the current law, Armenia's real problem is 
its weak enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). 
Curiously, the new draft law does not address the biggest 
legal impediment to IPR protection in Armenia:  police will 
still not be allowed to enforce IPR without a complaint from 
the aggrieved party.  End Summary. 
 
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DRAFT LAW SUBMITTED FOR PUBLIC CONSIDERATION 
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2.   (SBU) In a series of seminars at the end of June, 
Armenia's IPR Agency presented for public comment a new 
draft law on copyright.  In his opening remarks, the 
Agency's head Armen Azizyan said that the new law responds 
to comments from ArmAuthor, a non-profit organization 
representing Armenian authors (whose written works are often 
copied illegally in Armenia), Armenia's many software firms, 
and the police.  Azizyan told us that he hoped to make 
Armenia's Copyright law clearer, more consistent, and to 
increase civil liability for violating copyright or related 
rights.  He added that while the WTO (and USTR) deemed the 
current copyright law WTO compliant, Armenia did not 
properly vet the law among the various stakeholders because 
the government was forced to pass it in an eleventh-hour run- 
up to its WTO accession. 
 
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DESPITE LAW, PIRACY REMAINS COMMONPLACE 
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3.   (SBU) The IPR Agency admits that the piracy of films, 
music and software is ubiquitous in Armenia, the provisions 
of the Copyright Code notwithstanding.  General 
understanding of IPR, even among lawyers and judges, is 
weak.  Although the government has formed a special IPR 
enforcement unit in the police, so far they have taken 
action only to protect trademarks, prosecuting producers of 
counterfeit Armenian products upon complaint of their local 
manufacturers.  Last year, one local radio station failed to 
convince the GOAM to sanction another local station for 
recording and re-broadcasting the first station's original 
content.  When it comes to foreign-produced IPR, the single 
greatest impediment to enforcement is the fact that police 
officers have no right to prosecute IPR violations without a 
complaint, filed in Armenia, from the aggrieved party. 
Without the right to act without a formal complaint and 
without local collective representation of authors and 
artists, there is no effective protection of international 
IPR in Armenia. 
 
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COMMENT:  GOAM MUST TAKE STEPS ON ENFORCEMENT 
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(SBU) Since the bulk of pirated goods in Armenia have 
international content, the requirement that the aggrieved 
party formally complain before the police investigate or 
prosecute piracy is a subterfuge by which the GOAM chooses 
to ignore IPR for the most part.  Some in the GOAM, 
including the Minister of Justice, argue that ex officio IPR 
enforcement will only create more corruption in the police 
force.  Nevertheless, if Armenia relies solely on civil 
remedies to enforce IPR, it will remain impossible, as it is 
today, to find licensed software, films or music in Armenia, 
and movie theatres that buy licensed films will have to 
compete with television stations that air unlicensed 
versions.  We continue to support regulation and enforcement 
of IPR in Armenia through USAID and INL programs, and we 
will continue to press on the GOAM to pass legislation that 
will make Armenia's IPR regime as effective as possible.  We 
intend to urge the GOAM that it should use this new law to 
fill this gap in its enforcement regime, and that even 
though Armenia is now in the WTO, we expect the GOAM to keep 
taking steps towards effective protection of IPR.  End 
Comment. 
 
4.   (U) Point of contact at Post is Anush Petrosyan, email: 
petrosyana@state.gov.  We would be happy to send an English 
language copy of the proposed law to interested departments 
or agencies upon request. 
GODFREY