RESOURCE(S)
INTRODUCTION
The study proposes a cartography of the legal framework for research and teaching in Cyprus with emphasis on the challenges and pitfalls of the Cypriot Copyright legislation. To do so, it is first necessary, by way of introduction, to note the specificities of the Cypriot copyright law by studying its history (2.1). This should be read, however, in conjunction with a more practical analysis of the copyright law’s ecosystem in Cyprus (2.2). Subsection 2.3 will then focus specifically on the methodology adopted to analyse the legal framework governing research and education in Cypriot copyright law.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
A central finding of the report is the fragmented and incoherent nature of Cypriot copyright law, which undermines the country’s research and educational potential. Law 59/1976, rooted in a common-law tradition, has been reshaped by successive layers of EU harmonisation without sufficient regard for internal coherence, producing overlapping exceptions and significant interpretive uncertainty. Institutional dysfunction compounds the legislative problem: the Copyright and Related Rights Authority remains inactive, resulting in the suspension of the private copy levy, public lending remuneration, and the licensing-availability assessment required for the e-teaching exception, while the collective management infrastructure remains underdeveloped.
The report reveals that researchers, educators, and libraries face concrete obstacles operating under this framework. The teaching and e-teaching exceptions are rendered nearly inoperative by a 5% usage threshold (markedly below the 15% allowed in Germany and the absence of any cap in most Member States) combined with mandatory fair compensation and a licensing carve-out, raising serious compatibility concerns with the InfoSoc and Copyright in the Digital Single Market (CDSM) Directives. The quotation and fair dealing exceptions could offer meaningful flexibility if interpreted in line with CJEU case law (Pelham, Funke Medien, Spiegel Online), but their scope is widely misunderstood in practice. Cyprus also lacks a secondary publication right, an operative public lending scheme, and a functioning private copy levy, while the orphan works mechanism has never been activated, despite the 2022 National Open Science Policy’s commitment to universal open access by 2026.
The report underscores the need for a comprehensive overhaul of the legal and institutional framework to align Cypriot copyright law with EU standards and the demands of contemporary research. It recommends a tabula rasa re-codification of Law 59/1976 to restore coherence, the immediate activation of the Copyright Authority and completion of the CMO registry, the raising or abolition of the 5% teaching threshold, and the introduction of a secondary publication right for publicly funded research, in anticipation of the forthcoming European Research Area Act. The report further calls on key stakeholders to launch awareness initiatives on the actual scope of the quotation exception, the orphan works regime, and the out-of-commerce works mechanism, so as to foster an open, competitive, and legally secure research environment in Cyprus.
AUTHOR(S)
