Cyprus praised for copyright law

CYPRUS now has the highest standard of intellectual copyright protection in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to Thomas Bombelles, Assistant International Vice President of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

The PhRMA statement came as Cyprus was for the first time since 1990 absent from the US Trade Representative’s ‘Special 301′ list of countries with inadequate copyright and patent protection.

Cyprus has been removed from the list after a law complying with the European Patent Convention and with World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements was passed on April 2. The law covers all areas of intellectual property copyright, including pharmaceuticals.

According to the PhRMA statement, Cyprus legislation is now superior to that in force in countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey.

The Cyprus government has also been congratulated on the newly-passed law by the US government. In an official US embassy press release, the move was lauded as reconfirming “Cyprus’ emerging role as an internationally- recognised business centre” and would “inevitably make it more competitive in attracting international investment.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.