Overview of intellectual rights in Armenia

The regulatory framework governing intellectual property rights in Armenia is the RA Civil Code, the laws of the Republic of Armenia "On Copyright and Related Rights", "On Trademarks", "On geographical indications", "On the discoveries, utility models and industrial designs" and "On legal Protection of topographies of Integrated Circuits.

Objects of intellectual rights in the Republic of Armenia are the results of intellectual activity and means of individualization of participants, goods, works or services. Objects can be expressed both verbally and in written or other tangible form, in Vol. H. E.

Among the results of intellectual activity are the following:

works of science, literature and art (copyright);
performances, phonograms and broadcasts of broadcasting organizations (related rights);
Inventions, utility models, industrial designs (patent law);
Selection achievements;
Topographies of Integrated Circuits;
non-disclosure, in Vol. H. Business secrets (know-how);
Means of individualization of participants, goods, works and services.

By means of individualization of participants, goods, works and services are:

Brand names;
Trademarks (service marks);
Geographical Indications, appellations of origin and the name of the traditional production.

The authors can only be individuals who have created work. The author may be one person or several persons (co-authorship). In Armenia, there is a presumption of authorship, which is that the author is the person whose name is indicated as the author on the work, or whose name is indicated as the author in publishing work, or whose name is indicated as the author on copies of a work which has been deposited the appropriate organizations managing property rights on a collective basis, or notary or other organizations having the appropriate authority under the law, until proven otherwise. The right of authorship is inalienable and cannot be transferred to another person, and it permanently.

Copyright shall not apply to works of folklore and folk art; Information on daily news or current facts and events; Official documents - legal documents, contracts and official translations thereof; state symbols and signs (flags, emblems, orders, banknotes, and so on); political speeches, speeches delivered in the course of the trial; the results obtained by technical means without human creativity.

Copyright and may not apply to scientific discoveries, ideas, principles, methods, procedures, concepts, systems, processes, scientific theories, mathematical formulas, statistical diagrams, rules of games, even if they are expressed, described, disclosed, highlighted in the works.

Persons who own the exclusive rights to intellectual property as the exclusive right to fair use of intellectual property. Other persons may use these objects only with the consent of the copyright holder.

In respect of IP rights holder is entitled to transfer the rights to them in whole or in part, to allow a third party to use and dispose of them. Transfer of rights to IP objects is through the conclusion of license agreements.

Next, take a closer look at the trademarks and service marks, and briefly mentioning other means of individualization of participants of civil turnover, goods, works and services in Armenia.

As you know, the civil law grants the right in establishing a legal entity to identify and brand name. According to the legislation of the Republic of Armenia, a legal entity in respect of a trade name arise intellectual property rights.

Article 1167 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Armenia establishes the exclusive right of the legal entity to use its firm name on goods, their packaging, in advertising, signs, invoices, printed publications, official documents and other documents related to its operations, and it has the exclusive right to act the whole territory of the Republic of Armenia. This applies also when displaying these products at exhibitions and fairs. Brand name is determined by the approval of the charter of the legal entity and is registered in the manner prescribed by law.

The right to use the brand name is terminated in the event of liquidation of the legal entity and change of company name and the name of its transmission is allowed only in case of reorganization of a legal entity.

In addition, the legal entity is given the right to use a trade name in the trademark belonging to it.

Geographical indications of origin of goods and guaranteed traditional products.

In Armenia, the appellation of origin is considered to be the name of the territory, specific locality or in exceptional cases, the geographical name of the country, which serve to designate products that have been created on the territory of the award, a particular place or country, and that special quality or other features inherent in the primary or exclusive way due geographical conditions (including human and natural factors), and whose products, processing and preparation take place in a given geographical region.

A geographical indication is considered to be the name of the territory, specific areas or countries that are used to designate that product, which is produced in a given territory, or a certain area of the country, the special quality, reputation or other characteristic features of which are mainly due to geographical origin.

Guaranteed traditional products is considered to be agricultural products or foodstuffs, especially where widely recognized and registered in accordance with the law of the Republic of Armenia.

Trademark and service mark.

Trademark and service mark is the means by which it is possible to distinguish the goods (services) one person from the goods (services) of others.

Often in civil turnover, carried out on the territory of Armenia, there are situations where the rights of some persons in the use of trademarks by third parties are violated. For example, in the case of trade marks for identical or very similar images, fonts, symbols, and so on. D. To reduce the risk of such violations Armenian authorities to set up a mechanism of protection of exclusive rights to trademarks.

However, the mere authorship, for example, images placed on the trade mark itself does not entail the protection of trademark rights. The legislation should be in the presence of the following conditions in order to trademark was protected by the state. These are the following conditions:

State registration of the trademark;
recognition of the trademark as well known in the Republic of Armenia;
the presence of international agreements, based on which the international registration.

The fact of the state registration of the trademark and the right against him certified certificate of trademark rights.

A trademark registration is usually done for 10 years. With the end of this period, the registration may be renewed each time for another 10 years. A similar procedure is used in the vast majority of states, in Vol. H. Of Armenia. The application is submitted in the last year of the registration. Also it allows for the application in the six-month period after the expiry of the registration, subject to payment of additional state fee.

The process begins with the receipt of the certificate of documents to the authorized body, t. E. In the Intellectual Property Agency under the Ministry of Economy of RA.

Intellectual Property Agency under the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia has the following functions:

the adoption and discussion of applications for registration of trademarks, holding their expertise, state registration of trademarks, licensing of trademark rights;
receipt and examination of notifications of the International Bureau of the international registration of trademarks;
acceptance of applications for recognition of well-known trademarks, discussion and decision-making;
maintenance of the state register;
registration of transfer of rights to trademarks, licenses, deposit and registration of the franchise;
other functions.

The right holder has the exclusive right to own, use and dispose of the trademark. Thus in his charge are a question of giving third parties the foregoing rights or to ban their use.

In the Republic of Armenia franchisor may prohibit other persons to use (without permission of the copyright owner) of any notation that:

identical to a registered trademark and is used in relation to those goods and (or) services for which the trademark is registered;
are identical or similar to a registered trademark and used in respect of such goods (services), which are identical or the same type of goods and services for which the trademark was registered, if the use of these signs is the danger of misleading of consumers, in Vol. H. associating with a registered mark;
identical or similar to a trademark that is registered for other goods (services), if the latter is well known in Armenia, and the use of that mark would lead to the appearance of unfair advantage or harm the distinctive character or the reputation of the designation.

In Armenia, under the use of the trademark is understood as:

room trademarks on this product, its packaging, as well as its use as packaging of these products in the case of three-dimensional images;
offer for sale of goods bearing trademarks of their sale or possession for these purposes, or the provision of services under this trademark or proposal;
import or export of goods bearing a trademark;
the use of the designations on documents or for publicity purposes;
reproduction, storage or sale of a trade mark for the purposes specified in the preceding paragraphs;
trademark use on the Internet or other wireless global computer networks, in particular, any addressing means, a t. h. in a domain name.

In the Republic of Armenia, the rights and obligations specified in the certificate in respect of all types of goods and services or in respect of their parts, they can be transferred to other persons under contract. Permission to use the trademark shall be issued on the basis of the copyright license agreement.

Moreover, it is imperative that this agreement has been existing conditions that the quality of goods and services of the licensor not inferior to the quality of goods and services licensee.

In case of violation by third parties exclusive rights to the trademark right holder appears full set of rights for their protection.

As a registered trademark designation with a graphic representation:

words, phrases, names or slogans;
letters or numbers;
photos, images or symbols;
dimensional images, in particular, the appearance of the product or its packaging;
hologram color, combinations thereof and compositions;
sound signals;
a combination of the above designations.

In the absence of these conditions, the registration of a trademark may be refused. It may also be refused if:

if the sign has no distinctive features or composed solely of signs that serve to mark the time of production or of the service, the type of goods or services, quality, quantity, purpose of creation, value or other characteristics.
exclusively consist of such marks or indications which have become universal in conversational or business practices;
can be misleading about the geographical origin of the goods, their quality or nature of the issues on the manufacturer;
reproduce or contains elements that are identical or similar to such an extent that they can be confused with the images or names of international cultural heritage or heritage of the Republic of Armenia;
other conditions specified in the law.

It is only that small part of the intellectual rights in Armenia, which we were able to talk about in this article, though remained intact many other questions. And thus, this sub-sector is a very complex and often can cause some problems when using the exclusive rights to intellectual property. Therefore, you should contact the specialists in the field of intellectual rights in the Republic of Armenia. You can safely use our legal office, which has a very wide experience and skills in the field of intellectual rights. Our experts:

Represents clients in cases of infringement of trademarks, trade / brand names, designations of origin, industrial designs, inventions / utility models, plant varieties, copyrights, related rights, trade secrets and domain names. Accompany the case of recognition of documents of title invalid;
creates a barrier for the turnover, exports and imports of goods produced in violation of intellectual property rights the customer, represent clients before the authorities of the Customs Service of Armenia, the Armenian Police;
accompanied by the registration of trademarks, copyrights and patents of inventions, utility models and industrial designs both on the national and international procedures;
Advise on the financial and tax aspects of transactions, calculation of royalties, valuation of intellectual property. Make up agreements relating to the creation, use and disposal of intellectual property, accompanied by their registration;
Accompany export and import operations relating to products and technologies, including intellectual property, as well as accompany the output of the client to new markets, development of new products, technologies and services.
Carry out IP Due Diligence and IP Intelligence both new projects and existing companies, provide a report on current and potential risks associated with the use of intellectual property;
Represent the interests of clients in antitrust and judicial authorities in cases of protection from unfair competition, particularly in cases involving the misuse of trademarks for goods and services and other symbols, trade names, as well as the suppression of acts in the competition related to the unfair use of facilities intellectual property rights and abuse of them.

Vardan Hechyan, Head of Legal Practice

Corporate Lawyers Group (Armenia)

The Republic of Armenia, Yerevan,

District Arabkir Street. Komitas 35-16

tel .: +374 10 32 02 02

e-mail: [email protected]