Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 26
By Kamala Mammadli - Trend:
Importers of branded products in Azerbaijan including foreign companies, distributors and official dealers, should think about intellectual property insurance to protect the original product from counterfeiting, Head of the corporate sales department of Ateshgah insurance company Vugar Huseynli, told Trend.
In his words, in the world, losses associated with the production and sale of pirated products are estimated at billions of US dollars. Businessmen in Azerbaijan also face a similar problem, he noted.
The Azerbaijani Customs Committee has developed a number of measures and procedures to minimize the risk of entrepreneurs who import popular products into Azerbaijan, he added. One of the proposed measures is the special registration of brands and branded products in the customs register of Azerbaijan in order to correctly identify the authenticity of products.
In order to minimize the costs associated with the delay of goods and litigations with entrepreneurs when importing products that raise suspicion of violation of intellectual property rights, special conditions have been introduced into the customs code, he said.
According to a number of conditions of the customs code, entrepreneurs must submit guarantees during registration of their brands, for example, a deposit at a bank, collateral, etc., he noted.
For example, an owner of an international brand who insists on the examination and further destruction of imported goods by third parties may find himself (herself) in a situation where his (her) suspicions are unfounded, he said. The product was authenticated and the alleged counterfeit goods actually turned out to be genuine, he added.
Of all the types of guarantees offered, the most profitable and convenient tool in the settlement of losses of third parties is insurance. Intellectual property insurance may seem like an unnecessary luxury for someone, but these costs will be significantly less than all the procedures described, Huseynli noted.
Ateshgah company, according to the Intellectual Property Agency, is the leading insurance company in Azerbaijan, which is the only one that has developed and offers this type of insurance in the republic to support foreign and local businessmen conducting international trade in popular brands.
“Unfortunately, this product is not yet popular,” Huseynli added. “The Ateshgah company has only had a few contracts for intellectual property insurance since the beginning of the year."
"Perhaps, in the near future, thanks to the joint work of the Azerbaijani Customs Committee and entrepreneurs, demand for this type of insurance may significantly increase,” he said.