ARMENIA CREATES IPR ENFORCEMENT UNIT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000680

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SUBJECT: ARMENIA CREATES IPR ENFORCEMENT UNIT


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SUMMARY
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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.

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ENFORCEMENT TEAM ESTABLISHED
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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).

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"SLOW REGULARIZATION OF TV BROADCASTING"
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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.

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LAWS ON IPR TO BE AMENDED
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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.

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COMMENT: THE GOAM SHOULD MOVE FORWARD ON ENFORCEMENT
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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