Cyprus loses about €180 m a year or €212 per person from intellectual property right infringements across 11 branches of the economy, according to the 2019 status report on IPR infringement published by the EU’s Intelectual Property Office on Thursday. Covering the whole of the EU, the report estimates losses for the bloc at €60b.
 
This is the second report published by EUIPO on the effect of piracy and counterfeit goods on the main economic sectors unprotected from violations of intellectual rights. The study estimates that since the first analysis, which took place in 2018, the volume of lost sales in the European Union has dropped in all industries except two – clothes, footwear and accessories, as well as cosmetics and personal hygiene items.
 
Of all the industries surveyed by EUIPO, clothes, footwear and accessories industry is the largest as regards sales and employment.
 
EUIPO Executive Director Christian Archambeau said in the statement to the press that Europe’s growth and creation of jobs relies heavily on the 11 surveyed industries. He stressed that the research performed by EUIPO shows that counterfeit goods and piracy threaten growth and jobs.
 
On Cyprus, the report estimates IPR infringements result in the loss of 1405 jobs. The sectors most affected are clothing and footwear with losses of €90m or 17.1% of total productions, cosmetics with losses of €24 m or 15.5% of total production, pharmaceuticals with losses of €19.9 m or 8.8% of production.
 
Next come jewellery with losses of €13 m or 13.3% of production and wine and alcoholic drinks with €10m or 12.7% of production.
 
Edited by Bouli Hadjioannou