Reco Records is going to sue Armenia's Intellectual Property Agency

 Reco Records, an Armenian company importing, reproducing and selling CDs and DVDs, is going to sue Armen Azizyan, the head of the Intellectual Property Agency of Armenia's Economy Ministry.

The company's lawyer Artashes Bostanjyan told journalists on Tuesday that the decision that from Apr 18 on all CDs and DVDs in Armenia will have to bear an excise stamp will hinder the company's business.  The point is that the Agency often refuses to provide the certificate that confirms the validity of a contract between an importer and a copyright holder or a licensee and that is required by the tax authorities as a ground for issuing an excise stamp. The Agency's argument is the absence of related contracts, for example, with film producers, directors, composers, while the law says that a copyright contract or a copy of a licensing contract are enough. Bostanjyan said that the Agency has no authority to verify the contracts and that only the applicants are responsible for their validity.

Director of Disc World retail chain Karen Qupelian said that almost 95% of CDs and DVDs with movies, music, computer programs and games are produced abroad, but the producers provide no related contract documentation for they believe that an invoice and a licensing contract are enough for a small market like Armenia.

David Hanoyan, Head of Reco Records, also pointed out that in some cases the Agency provided a certificate of authenticity and in other cases didn't, though the agreement with the copyright holders was the same. 

The participants do not rule out that such policy of the Agency is explained by the "lobbying" of the disc sellers' business, as Qupelian pointed out a case when a certain company was provided with 50 thsd excise stamps for 5 names of discs, but some of these stamps were pasted on the discs with quite different content.  

Hanoyan thinks that it is necessary to change the order of provision of excise stamps in order to make the applicants apply to the Agency for the specified certificate again after using all the previous excise stamps.