TIRANA, July 24 – Turkish-owned ALBtelecom has warned it could undertake legal action against the recent rebranding of AMC mobile operator into Telekom Albania as a brand of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom because of the similarity to its trademark.
In a statement, ALbTelecom, which controls the fixed-line telephony and internet market and also owns the Eagle Mobile operator, said the registration of the Telekom Albania trademark which highly resembles Albanian Telecom with only a reverse wording, “is not only against the commercial laws in force, but also against the codes of QKR [National Registration Center] and the practices of the Competition Authority.”
“Albtelecom will be ready to make use of its legal rights on this subject, however has full confidence that related changes will be made so that there will be no need for any such legal action,” said Erkan Tabak, the CEO of ALBTelecom.
The Albanian government still owns a minority 20 percent stake in ALBtelecom landline operator.
Full statement by ALBtelecom’s CEO Erkan Tabak:
Albtelecom, known as Albanian Telecom by the Albanian people and even having the official name of Telekomi Shqiptar before the privatization, is a company which is as old as the Albanian State itself with its roots dating back to 104 years ago. This institution, where the Albanian State also holds 20% of shares, has now become identical with the concepts of Telecommunications and Technology in Albania.
The usage of the name of Albanian Telecom by other companies along with all possible versions of it or any other name which would directly invoke the Albanian Telecom name and their direct translations is absolutely forbidden according to the Albanian commercial laws in force and the European Union directives.
Albanian Telecom is not only a company name, but also the historical property of the Albanian State. The fact is that the registration of the name of Telekom Albania, which highly resembles Albanian Telecom with only a reverse wording, is not only against the commercial laws in force, but also against the codes of QKR and the practices of the Competition Authority.
As a consequence of the above reasons, it is quite surprising for Albtelecom to see the official usage and the launch of its name by another company. However, despite the above, we still believe that this is not a deliberate action, but rather a point which was overlooked within the institution.
Albtelecom will be ready to make use of its legal rights on this subject, however has full confidence that related changes will be made so that there will be no need for any such legal action.
Related:
Deutsche Telekom enters Albania with AMC rebranding
