Armenia’s State Economic Competition Protection Commission (SECPC) today fined ArmenTel 20 million AMD ($50,000) for trademark infringement.

Orange Armenia, a telecommunications competitor of ArmenTel, filed a complaint with the SECPC, arguing that the company’s new cell phone package Parzic Parz (Simpler than Simple), sounds too much like one of its one rate packages called Parz (Simple).

Orange Armenia basically argued that the ArmenTel name was an attempt to duplicate the name of their package that was registered as a brand name in 2011.

Orange Armenia also pointed out in its complaint that ArmenTel was running ads for its package featuring orange and red billiard balls. (Orange Armenia, as the name implies, features  orange as its trademark color)

In its decision, the SECPC says that it asked ArmenTel to explain the similarities but that no clarification was forthcoming.