AM law firm partner, advocate and trademark attorney Vanik Margaryan represents interests of ZF group for more than 10 years, being one of the first representatives of trademark owners who used IP rights protection instruments of RA SRS (customs bodies).

Within that procedure, import of goods with the registered trademarks (ZF, Sachs, Lemforder, TRW) is suspended by customs bodies in case the importer has no consent from the rights holder and the import is made from a non-Eurasian Economic Union country. In numerous such cases, illegal import was suspended and court claims were submitted requesting the prohibition of such import and the destruction of the illegally imported goods. 

Following multiple proceedings before the Civil Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan, in numerous cases, the claims were either fully satisfied by the courts or resolved through settlements, both in judicial and out-of-court procedures. As a result, illegal importers were prohibited from importing goods bearing ZF trademarks, and the unlawfully imported goods were subject to destruction. These cases constitute an important practice and demonstrate the potential negative consequences of violating IP rights in Armenia in connection with the illegal import of goods protected by right holders.

Moreover, in parallel with these court cases, we have also received clarification from SRS in response to our inquiry, according to which hereinafter TM right holders will be informed about the customs value of suspended goods. This will give the opportunity to protect rights against imports with larger quantities of illegal goods and to prevent illegal imports in the future.

AM law firm will continue the protection of ZF group trademarks in Armenia and urges avoiding any illegal import of ZF, Sachs, Lemforder, and TRW goods without consent of the rights holder. Currently, new court claims were submitted to courts by advocate of AM law firm Ani Nikoghosyan, based on which several large imports with ZF group trademarks are suspended until the end of judicial proceedings.