On 19 March 2015, the United Kingdom extended certain provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended (the "1988 Act") to the Cayman Islands as set out in The Copyright (Cayman Islands) Order 2015 (the "Copyright Order"). Although formally enacted, the Copyright Order will only come into effect once the associated regulations have been finalised and brought into force. This is currently anticipated to occur by the end of the third quarter of 2015. A further client update will be provided at that time.
Copyright protection in the Cayman Islands is currently provided by the UK Copyright Act 1956 (the "1956 Act"). In 1988 the United Kingdom repealed the 1956 Act and replaced it with the 1988 Act, but left the 1956 Act still in force in the Cayman Islands. The Copyright Order repeals the 1956 Act with respect to the Cayman Islands and replaces it with the 1988 Act. This will enable the Cayman Islands to offer modern intellectual property protection for copyrights in line with those in the United Kingdom and other countries of the European Union.
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