Legal Articles

A patent is a right to ownership of an invention granted to the inventor by the government. It allows the patent owner exclusive use of (and the right to license out use of) the invention in return for revealing it to the public domain. In December 1997 Cyprus entered the European Patent Organization (EPO) and became a signatory of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The Department of...

Each year hundreds of buyers are attracted to purchasing real estate on the island of Cyprus. With a system of registered land and a legal process broadly based on that of England and Wales, buying a property in Cyprus is relatively straightforward. However, as with any jurisdiction, there are a number of potential snares of which a purchaser needs to be aware in order to avoid difficulties....

When buying property in Cyprus there are a number of additional costs and taxes of which every buyer should be aware prior to committing to an acquisition. It is extremely important that a potential buyer plans for and takes into account each of the following incidental costs that will occur when buying property in Cyprus. 1. LEGAL FEES It is imperative that a buyer instructs an independent...

A distributorship agreement is one that is made between the supplier and distributor of goods. The relationship is different in nature to other possible models of supply such as agency or franchise. KEY CONSIDERATIONS In deciding whether distributorship is an appropriate form of supply, a business must consider the following characteristics of the distributorship relationship: LIABILITY The...

In 2006 a tennis tournament sponsor sued Venus and Serena Williams for non-attendance at their event. The sponsor claimed that the tennis stars were obliged to attend by virtue of a commitment to that effect made by their father. The case rested upon whether the girls’ father had authority to bind them contractually, even without their express consent, and demonstrates the manner in which an...

The term “agent” or “agency” must be used with particular caution in Cyprus as the law attaches a special significance to an agency relationship. In some cases the term “agency” will be used in commerce where in fact, legally speaking, there is no such relationship and similarly, in some cases where common commercial jargon refers to something other than agency, in fact (legally speaking) an...

Benjamin Franklin famously declared that “in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes”. Estate planning is a sensitive issue, which many people are reluctant to address, but considering that the plans and documents you make concerning your death are likely to be some of the most important financial documents you will ever make, inheritance is a crucial legal issue which everyone must...

Consumer protection demands that producers of products are responsible for the safety of the goods they manufacture and that, in the event that they are faulty, appropriate avenues of action are available to anyone affected by the faulty goods. In Cyprus, the EU legislation governing product liability (Council Directive 85/374/EEC) has been directly implemented into Cypriot law through the...

When a company is created it enjoys a separate legal identity of its own and, as such, when it stops operations a specific procedure must be followed in order to legally bring its existence to an end. The procedure is outlined in the Companies Law, Cap 113, and is a different procedure from that followed in the case of an individual going into bankruptcy. A company may either be wound up...

Property is one of the most valuable assets that a person or a company can own and it is perhaps by virtue of this value that property tends to attract a great deal of litigation and dispute. There are many different kinds of dispute that can occur in relation to property; in this article Michael Chambers highlights some of the most common forms of dispute and the action available to an...