Tert, Armenia
Oct 31 2009

It’s Not As Easy As You Might Think: Registering Well-Known Trademarks
in Armenian Market
13:28 ¢ 31.10.09

Yesterday Armenia’s Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsyan answered a
number of pressing questions on the activities of Intellectual
Property Agency (IPA) of the Ministry of Economy. According to local
Armenian daily Capital, over the past few years IPA registered
numerous well-known trademarks for one company in Armenia (which
doesn’t manufacture or distribute them) thus contributing to
concentration of the confectionary market, in particular, in the hands
of one local player.

Yeritsyan stated that it is within his power, as a minister, to
inflict penalties on those agencies.

`For example, the minister can propose to the government not to
finance them or to liquidate the business,’ Yeritsyan stated.

While speaking with the minister, a journalist noted that the Ministry
of Economy’s Intellectual Property Agency violated Article 12 of the
Republic of Armenia Law on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations
of Origin by registering as a trademark names of well-known companies
and people. Asked what steps the ministry is going to take, Yeritsyan
said that the Paris Convention stipulates that well-known brands
should be protected.

`Our law didn’t ensure that and many took advantage of that.
Basically, not many things surprise us, since those companies haven’t
yet come to Armenia. The reason was the following: Well-known foreign
companies or their representations and agents had no right to register
those names, their applications were turned down, but a third person
in Armenia could register, for example, McDonald’s or Coca-Cola
trademarks. In the future, it becomes a nuisance for the importers of
these brands if they come to Armenia. Many companies took advantage of
this and registered trademarks of foreign companies, hundreds of
names, in order to block their entrance into the Armenian market. In
this respect, the new draft Law on Trademarks, which was submitted to
the National Assembly, provides a solution to the problem. The
previous law prescribed that if the trademark is registered, and is
not used over 5 years, then the registration is cancelled. But the new
draft law stipulates that well-known brands cannot be registered by a
third party at all. But if brands known in other countries are
registered by mistake, then the owners of the brands may launch a
complaint within three years and through legal proceedings, the
registration may be made null and void,’ Yeritsyan said.

Referring to the law’s retroactive implementation, Yeritsyan stated
that in his opinion it is desirable, for example, to establish a
five-year period, and in that time, to do a full clean sweep of the
sector.

`That is, let bygones be bygones. It is natural that if we are doing
something for the future, it is logical, that a certain period should
be provided but we should also be brave and state that it hinders
investments. If everyone registers foreign company trademarks here, no
foreign company will come to Armenia. Even without that, making an
investment is a huge expense. Besides, the company also sees that it
has issues related to buying its brand back,’ the minister said.
From: Baghdasarian