YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Tierras de Armenia, which uses the Karas trademark, doesn’t hinder other companies from using the word “karas” in the market, but it opposes using the word as a trademark.

Using the same word in the trademark or brand causes confusion with Karas.

CEO Juliana Del Aguila-Eurnekian says her company doesn’t intend to have a monopoly in the market whatsoever.

“From the very beginning the goal of the company’s founder, Eduardo Eurnekian, my uncle, was to invest, to create jobs in Armenia, as well as to create a product by which Armenia will appear on the map of global winemakers. We don’t want to have a monopoly in the market, we simply want to protect our copyrights of the trademark. However, recently rumors reached us that wines under the Zorah Karasi brand are being confused with Karas”, she said, adding that once she ordered Karas herself, and instead a bottle of Zorah Karasi was served.

According to her, they are relying on serious studies when they say that the name causes confusion among consumers.

They contacted Zorah Karasi owner Saki and Sons founder Zorik Gharibyan to clarify the confusion, but since they didn’t reach a solution they tried to do it through a legal way.

“Any company can describe its wine by saying it was produced in a jug [Karas literally means jug in Armenian]. They certainly can use the word Karas, but not as a brand. It can be mentioned, for example, as a preparation method”, she said.

“I consider Zorah Karasi wines to be a fantastic production, but I also don’t want it to be confused with our production”, she said, adding they simply want to maintain their trademark, and that they don’t seek any monopolistic ambitions.

Tierras de Armenia, owned by Argentine-Armenian businessman Eduardo Eurnekian, is in a legal proceeding against Saki and Sons for the usage of the word karas in the latter's trademark.