AZERBAIJAN SPECIAL 301 NOTIFICATION AND REQUEST

UNCLAS BAKU 000575 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN SPECIAL 301 NOTIFICATION AND REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE REF: STATE 56069 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION - PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY ¶1. (U) This is an action request; please see para 5. ¶2. (U) Embassy delivered reftel points regarding USTR's decision not to list Azerbaijan in this year's Special 301 report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Economic Department and the State Copyright Agency. Contacts at the MFA and Copyright Agency welcomed the decision by USTR. ¶3. (SBU) In response to reftel's question regarding the designation a of single point of contact for addressing IPR issues, newly appointed State Copyright Agency Deputy Chairman Oqtay Samadov said that he was unaware of any Government of Azerbaijan (GOAJ) plans to consolidate IPR issues into a single GOAJ body. Samadov acknowledged, however, that the Copyright Agency needs to rely upon several other state ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Economic Development and the Prosecutor General's Office, in order to close down IPR violators. ¶4. (SBU) Samadov requested U.S. assistance with training for Copyright Agency personnel. He noted that the Copyright Agency has only 38 employees and an extremely low travel budget of USD 7,000 for 2007. He requested U.S. trainers come to Azerbaijan to provide technical assistance in a wide variety of areas, including drafting of IPR protection legislation. ¶5. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: Post would welcome Department and interagency's thoughts on possible technical assistance (i.e. visits to Baku by U.S. experts) to the Copyright Agency as well as to the State Agency for Standardization, Metrology and Patent and the Ministry of Economic Development Anti-Monopoly Department. In addition, as part of the U.S. trade and investment assistance portfolio, the U.S. may be able to provide some technical expertise to these critical IPR stakeholders. DERSE