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COPYRIGHT NEWS FROM CYPRUS TATIANA ELENI SYNODINOU Associate Professor, Department of Law, University of Cyprus Due to its geopolitical situation, Cyprus has always been a crossroads of civilisation. Private law here is derived from British common law. But at the same time, common law rules are codified into a set of laws that strongly resembles a civil code. Language is also an important factor in the foundation of a legal philosophy and it must be noted that after independence, English, although not an official language of the Republic, was the language used in drafting legislation and in the courts until 1990, when it was replaced by Greek.1 From that point on, the influence of Greek authors increased. 1. Law 67/1988, Gazette, Section I, Appendix 2327, 27 May 1988, p. 2275 and Law 146/1989, Gazette, Section I, Appendix 2433, 11 August 1989 p. 3481. 59 REVUE INTERNATIONALE DU DROIT D’AUTEUR COPYRIGHT NEWS FROM CYPRUS The legal framework for copyright protection in Cyprus is based on the law. Through this prism, the second section will look at the consequences of principles of the Anglo-Saxon model. In this respect, characteristically, UK European integration, at how the as yet embryonic development of European law, more specifically the UK Copyright Act 1911, applied in Cyprus up to copyright law has prompted Cyprus to update its legal arsenal. 1978. Law 59/1976, as amended by Law 63/1977, came into force in 1978 and can also be considered as inspired and influenced by Anglo-Saxon law. I. CYPRIOT COPYRIGHT LAW: BETWEEN ARCHAISM AND The prospect of Brexit therefore places Cyprus in a relatively isolated position, INACTION inasmuch as the country remains one of the rare models of copyright left in the European Union. Copyright law has been amended many times since 1976.5 However, the considerable influence of international law and EU law The amendments have always been partial, their aim being either to in drafting the legal framework for Cypriot intellectual property law should establish a particular legal framework or to harmonise domestic law with not be overlooked. Cyprus has ratified the Berne Convention,2 the TRIPS the acquis communautaire. In this context, Cypriot legislation has not been agreements3 and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) codified to the same extent as British legislation.6 The development of Copyright Treaty and the Performances and Phonograms Treaty.4 copyright in Cyprus is characterised by the absence of substantive discussions regarding its nature and the directions it needs to take. In parallel, tracing As this article is the first of its kind dedicated to Cypriot law, it deviates this development on a jurisprudential basis using the Anglo-Saxon system of somewhat from established rules regarding such articles and, rather than 5. This was done by means of the following laws: Copyright Law (as amended) 63/1977 detailing current events in Cypriot law, it aims to offer the reader an overall E.E, par. I (I), no.1397, 29/10/1977; Copyright Law (as amended) 18(I)/1993 E.E., Par. I (I), Ar.2795, 7/5/1993; Copyright Law 1999 (as amended) 54(I)/1999 E.E., Par. I (I), view of the current situation in Cypriot copyright law. The article seeks to Ar.3329, 4/6/1999; Law on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended) 12(I)/2001 E.E., Par. I (I), Ar.3475, 16/2/2001; Law on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended) 2002 shine a light on the somewhat anachronistic nature of Cypriot legislation, its (128(I)/2002) E.E., Par. I (I), Ar.3623, 19/7/2002; Law on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended) 128(I)/2004) E.E., Par. I (I), Ar.3850, 30/4/2004; Law on Copyright and failure to take a strategic interest – its inaction – in the sphere of copyright Related Rights (as amended) 123(I)/2006 E.E., Par. I (I), Ar.3329, 28/07/2006; Law on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended) 181(I)/2007 E.E., Par. I (I), Ar.4154, 2. See Law 86/1979 ratifying the Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic 31/12/2007; Law on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended) 207(I)/2012 E.E., Par. I works. Before independence, Cyprus was party to the Berne Convention in its capacity as (I), Ar.4373, 28/12/2012; Law on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended) 196(I)/2014 a British colony. After its declaration of independence on 24 February 1964, the country E.E., Par. I (I), Ar.4481, 19/12/2014; 123(I)/2015 E.E., Par. I (I), Ar.4524, 17/07/2015; solemnly declared that it would continue to apply the convention, the text of which – as Law on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended) 66(I)/2017 E.E., Par. I (I), Ar.4604, amended by the 1971 Paris protocol – was formally ratified by parliament in Law 86 of 1979. 16/6/2017; Law on Copyright and Related Rights (as amended) 77(I)/2019) E.E., Par. I (I), See https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/remarks.jsp?cnty_id=937C. Ar.4706, 24/5/2019. 3. See Law 16(III)/1995 ratifying the TRIPS agreements. 6. The Copyright Act 1911 was replaced by the Copyright Act 1956, which was considerably 4. See Law 37(III)/2004 ratifying the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property amended in 1988 by the Copyright Act 1988. See Bently, Sherman, Gangjee & Johnson, Organization (WIPO). Intellectual Property Law, OUP, 2018, p. 37-38. 60 61 REVUE INTERNATIONALE DU DROIT D’AUTEUR COPYRIGHT NEWS FROM CYPRUS precedent was not possible, due to the low number of court decisions. The In line with the Anglo-Saxon conception of originality, copyright covers complex history of Cyprus (the “Cypriot problem” which often monopolises all work results involving a certain degree of craftsmanship, judgement or public life) and its low population have assuredly contributed to the lack of choice, or a judgement and an experience, an investment of some type8 or, interest in copyright issues. more simply, something created autonomously that is not a copy of something else. In fact, as rightly stated in the ruling on University of London Press v Later in this article we will analyse the general principles underlying University Tutorial Press regarding the concept of the criterion of protecting Cypriot copyright law and specifically the conditions for protection and intellectual property in Anglo-Saxon law: “The word ‘original’ does not [...] ownership of rights (A) and the regime of exceptions (B). mean that the work must be the expression of original or inventive thought. [...] The Act does not require that the expression must be in an original or novel form, A. Conditions for protection and ownership of rights under Cypriot law but that the work must not be copied from another work – that it should originate from the author.”9 The issue of the creation of intellectual property rights is indivisible from the general problem of how to define an author. The conceptual delimitation The Anglo-Saxon criterion of originality was adopted in Cypriot Law of author is one of the points of conflict between competing systems inspired 59/1976, article 3(2)(b) of which states that “a work is understood to be original by continental or Anglo-Saxon philosophies of copyright. if it is the personal intellectual creation of its author and not a copy of a pre- existing work or draft work.” Characteristically, and specifically in relation to According to copyright philosophy, the author and consequently photographs, Cypriot legislation conjugates the nature of a photograph as an the initial holder of the intellectual property rights – is the person whose artistic work with the criterion that there is no copy. Specifically, article 2 of c­­­­­raftsmanship, capacities and labour led to the work. The notion of creator is the Cypriot Copyright Law states that “a photograph is understood as an artistic closely linked to the criterion of protection granted by intellectual property, work under the sole condition that it is the personal creation of the photographer which is defined in countries following the copyright model as the objective and not a copy of a pre-existing photograph.” Recognition of protection does not approach that no copy exists.7 (2005) EWCA Civ 565: “The policy of copyright protection and its limited scope explain why the threshold requirement of an ‘original’ work has been interpreted as not imposing objective standards of novelty, usefulness, inventiveness, aesthetic merit, quality or value. A work may 7. On this, see also: Sokratous v Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri – Bompiani and “Gnosi” be complete rubbish and utterly worthless, literature, art and music. A work need only be publications (1997), referring to the criterion of originality as defined by British case law in ‘original’ in the limited sense that the author originated it by his efforts rather than slavishly the case of University of London Press Ltd. v University Tutorial Press Ltd. [1916] 2 Ch. 601. copying it from the work produced by the efforts of another person.” See also: Famagusta district court, Leisure Exports Medias Ltd et al. v Cyprus Mail Ltd, no 202/03, 11 May 2007, where the court held that a photograph taken from behind of a man in 8. “Labour, skill and capital” see Lord Atkinson Macmillan v Cooper (1993) 93 LJPC 113 a swimsuit looking out to sea was original because it was the expression of the photographer’s at 117. thought, thus referencing the ruling in the British case Sawkins v Hyperion Records Ltd 9. See University of London Press v University Tutorial Press (1916) 2 Ch.

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