IPR: PIRACY DEMARCHE DELIVERED

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