VZCZCXRO2546
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHAH #1597/01 3441315
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101315Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3886
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 5984
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 3678
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 3537
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
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RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 4226
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 001597 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, INL/AAE BUHLER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIPR TBIO TNGD TPHY TRGY TSPA PGOV TX
SUBJECT:  INL-FUNDED IPR ENFORCEMENT TRAINING FOR 
TURKMEN OFFICIALS 
 
ASHGABAT 00001597  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  (U)  Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public 
Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  Five Turkmen Government officials 
participated in an INL-funded General Intellectual 
Property Rights (IPR) Enforcement Program in 
Alexandria, VA from December 1-4.  Delegation members 
also met with INL Deputy Assistant Secretary Elizabeth 
Verville and visited a federal district court.  During 
the four-day training seminar at the Global 
Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA), Turkmen 
attendees listened to presentations on IPR border 
enforcement, investigation and prosecution of IPR 
crimes, and copyright industry trends.  Participants 
were excited about learning U.S. experience in 
enforcing IPR and engaged into discussions with the 
trainers and participants from other CIS countries. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  BACKGROUND:  In September 2007, the Embassy 
and the Turkmen government signed the second Amendment 
to the Letter of Agreement (LOA) on Narcotics Control 
and Law Enforcement Assistance.  The amendment 
included provisions for a new intellectual property 
rights (IPR) project.  Its goals were to raise 
awareness about IPR protection and violations among 
legislative and law enforcement agencies; to increase 
understanding about relevant international standards; 
and to encourage more effective IPR legislation and 
law enforcement in Turkmenistan.  It was designed to 
develop the skills of police, State Customs Service, 
prosecutors, judges, and other law enforcement 
officials to protect IPR, including preventing the 
transshipment of pirated and counterfeit goods.  END 
BACKGROUND. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The five officials included the head of the 
Department for General Monitoring of the Prosecutor 
General's Office, the head of the Department for 
Combating Economic Crimes, Chief of the Customs Point 
"Beyik Serdar Yoly" (located on the Turkmen - Iranian 
Border), the head of the Patent Department at the 
Ministry of Economics and Development and a judge of the 
Supreme Court.  This was the first engagement of 
Turkmen officials in an IPR-related activity since the 
adoption in November 2008 of two relevant Turkmen 
laws: One on inventions and industrial designs and 
another on trade and service marks and places of 
origin. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  As a part of the program, on November 30, 
the officials met with INL DAS Elizabeth Verville. 
They discussed IPR-related laws in Turkmenistan and 
IPR trends in the region.  The participants noted that 
Turkmenistan's IPR-related issues are thus far limited 
to trade in counterfeit products such as audio and 
video systems, computer equipment, software, textile, 
food, alcohol, toys and pirated DVDs.  The majority of 
the counterfeit goods are imported from China, 
Thailand, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Turkey. 
Implementing the IPR laws has been slow, due to a lack 
of skills, expertise, resources, and training.  The 
Turkmen officials admitted that the concept of 
intellectual property rights is new to the region. 
There have been no prosecutions thus far for IPR 
violations in Turkmenistan.  The officials also 
pointed out that Turkmenistan does not have the 
problem of internal counterfeit production, nor has 
there been any internal unlicensed production of 
either international or domestic brands.  The Turkmen 
 
ASHGABAT 00001597  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
prosecutor in the delegation said that IPR is an issue 
of concern to them, particularly as it concerns 
national textile products intended for export.  At the 
end of the meeting, the delegation thanked DAS 
Verville and the INL Bureau for organizing the visit 
and the opportunity given for them to attend the 
training and learn from the experiences of U.S. 
experts in the field. 
 
¶6. (SBU)  During the four-day training seminar, held 
at the Global Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA), 
Turkmen attendees, together with counterparts from 
Russia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan, heard presentations on 
"Patents, trademarks and copyrights", "The role of the 
World Intellectual Property Organization in IPR 
enforcement", "Border enforcement of IPR and the U.S. 
legal system," "Targeting counterfeit and pirated 
goods", "Investigating IP crimes", "Enforcing IPR 
through criminal prosecution", "IPR crimes in digital 
environment", and "The copyright industry?s 
perspective".  Presentations on IPR border enforcement 
and investigations were of particular interest to the 
Turkmen participants.  The representative from State 
Customs Service was interested in learning more about 
IPR enforcement procedures concerning non-commercial 
imports (for instance, items brought in for 
exhibitions or trade shows) as well as perishable 
goods (food).  The representative from the General 
Prosecutor?s office was interested in learning the 
procedures undertaken when a citizen reports on 
identified counterfeit products in the market.  The 
official from the Ministry of Interior asked about the 
sources and amounts of funding designated to U.S. law 
enforcement for IPR protection. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Besides the classroom presentations, GIPA 
also organized a visit to the U.S. District Court for 
the Eastern District of Virginia. The Turkmen 
officials were surprised to learn that U.S. judges are 
appointed for life, compared to the Turkmen system, 
where every judge is appointed by the President for a 
five-year term, and eligible for re-appointment.  They 
also asked the judge about his role in granting 
pardons, and were eager to tell about the general 
amnesties granted regularly by the Turkmen President 
on the eve of national holidays in Turkmenistan.  It 
was also surprising for Turkmen officials to find out 
that fraud victims normally receive no restitution 
from the state, explaining that in Turkmenistan, 
victim restitution is mandatory, and that perpetrators 
are liable for compensating victims' losses. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The Turkmen participants were active, 
attended all presentations, often asked questions and 
engaged in the discussions.  The most interesting 
discussion was during the last presentation of the 
seminar given by an attorney from International 
Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA).  When the IIPA 
attorney attempted to criticize Turkmenistan for not 
meeting international legal norms and lacking 
copyright and related IPR laws, a representative from 
Turkmen patent office explained that although there 
was no separate copyright law in Turkmenistan, the 
Civil Code contains sufficient amendments to protect 
copyrights.  He also noted that Turkmenistan has 
adopted two laws on inventions and on trademarks, of 
which the IIPA attorney was not aware.  Additionally, 
it was also acknowledged that Turkmenistan is planning 
to accede to both the Bern Convention and the Geneva 
Phonograms Convention in 2010.  So far, over 30,000 
 
ASHGABAT 00001597  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
international and local trademarks have been 
officially registered with the Patent Office of 
Turkmenistan. 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT:  The concept of intellectual 
property rights is relatively new to Turkmen law 
enforcement officials and as a result, there have been 
no IPR prosecutions to date.  Since the applicable 
laws were signed by the president, Turkmen officials 
feel accountable for their implementation and are thus 
eager to initiate IPR cases.  INL will continue to 
work with the Turkmen on IPR issues.  The next step of 
the project will entail bringing GIPA experts to 
Turkmenistan to train a much broader audience on IPR 
enforcement.  END COMMENT. 
 
CURRAN