Azerbaijan demands Armenia address copyright infringement of composer's "Karabakh" song

The Ministry of Culture and the Agency for Intellectual Property of Azerbaijan have issued a joint statement demanding that Armenian official structures bring to justice those who violated the copyright of the song "Karabakh" by Azerbaijani composer Bahram Nasibov.

Armenia's specialized structures are being urged to prohibit the mass performance of Nasibov's work "Karabakh," which is being misrepresented as the Armenian song "Sirun jan". They are also being demanded to eliminate cases of plagiarism, restore Nasibov's copyright, bring the perpetrators of the violation to justice under international law and national legislation, and inform Azerbaijan about the measures taken, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

"If the case of copyright infringement is not investigated and eliminated, the Republic of Armenia will violate the principle of 'national treatment,' which is one of the fundamental principles, enshrined in Article 5 of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, of which this country is a member, as well as the provisions of several other international treaties," the statement reads.

Earlier, Armenian singer Gor Yepremyan posted a song called "Sirun jan" on YouTube, which is an obvious plagiarism of Bahram Nasibov's musical work "Karabakh," well-known in Azerbaijan and several Turkic countries.