Copyright is not adequately enforced online in Cuba. It has been reported that grassroots digital innovations, such as El Paquete Semanal, have facilitated access to extensive collections of frequently pirated digital content, relying on implicit government tolerance. It is also reported that the issue of piracy becomes even more complex on state-run digital platforms in Cuba, where foreign series, movies, and other materials are distributed. A notable example in the telecommunications sector is the illegal use of Windows, as the country lacks the means to obtain licenses. This situation extends to other content broadcast on television and to tools such as Office, the Adobe suite, and many others.

Cuba has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Cuba has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonogram Treaty.

The country lacks a comprehensive framework in place that provides effective protection of trade secrets, but there are limited measures addressing some issues related to them. According to Art. 429.2 of the Penal Code (Law 151/2022), shall be punished by imprisonment for six months to two years or a fine of two hundred to five hundred quotas or both whoever, without due authorisation, discloses, divulges, registers or exploits in the country or abroad, an undisclosed invention or information that should remain confidential and causes damages to its legitimate owner. Moreover, although private contracts may exist between the contracting party and the bidder, the possibility is left open that certain contracts may not be executed if they do not correspond to the priorities of the Cuban State.

Art. 55 of Decree-Law No. 35 stipulates that there is a mandate for operators to share certain resources associated with ducts, conduits, towers, poles, and other facilities. Art. 29 defines passive telecommunications infrastructures as installations that are primarily composed of towers, masts, poles, ducts, channels, conduits, chambers, cables, and dark fibre, among other components, and which are situated in various locations, including aerial, terrestrial, underground, submarine, or underwater.

Arts. 85 and 86 of the Law No. 35 establish that telecommunication services be provided by state companies. This presents restrictions or exclusions to foreign companies in the Telecommunications sector and in the Technology, Information and Communication sector (Chapter II, Sections Four and Eight). Currently, the Cuban Telecommunications Company has full ownership of telecommunications services. Therefore, foreign companies face a monopolistic barrier on the part of the national company in the telecommunications sector that includes services such as basic telephone services, signal conduction, data transmission, cellular land mobile telecommunications, virtual telephony, public telephone booths and stations, internet access, trunked mobile radio communication, provision of applications in the Internet environment and subscription television.

Cuba is not a signatory of the 1996 World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) nor the 2015 expansion (ITA II).

Cuba is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), nor does it have observer status.

Arts. 85-86 of Decree-Law No. 35 establish that telecommunication services have to be provided by state companies, therefore excluding foreign companies. Currently, the "Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A" (ETECSA) has full ownership of telecommunications services, including basic telephone services, signal conduction, data transmission, cellular land mobile telecommunications, virtual telephony, public telephone booths and stations, Internet access, trunked mobile radio communication, provision of applications in the Internet environment and subscription television.

The only internet provider company in Cuba is the state company "Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A." (ETECSA). According to Decree-Law No. 35 in its Title III - Art. 1, "The Cuban State is the owner of public telecommunications services and has the power to regulate, order, control and supervise the different telecommunications/ICT services and networks." ETECSA has been a monopoly since 2003 as the result of its merger with CUBACEL. At that time, the provision of fixed-line telephone operation services and mobile providers was unified. Since then, ETECSA has provided additional telecommunications services exclusively.

According to Art. 28.2, the nationality or residence status of directors is not limited to Cubans and does not require that at least some be Cuban. This is left up to the companies. However, Art. 28.1 requires that employees must be national or reside in the country.

Art. 1 of Resolution No. 206/2018 on Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment establishes the Commission for the Evaluation of Businesses with Foreign Investment as the advisory body of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment in charge of monitoring and evaluating matters that are submitted to the consideration of that body or correspond to it in accordance with its functions. Art. 22 establishes that the controls and analysis of the Commission are based on economic and social criteria that include studies on the impact of the investment in the local market, its duration, the social objective of the project, the potential for job creation and the origin of the supply of labour force, and the data belonging to the investors themselves. In addition, within the indicators, some are concerned about the impact on the environment as part of the evaluation. Resolution No. 207 establishes three annexes of the methodologies to be followed for the controls and evaluations of businesses with foreign investment.

According to Art. 15.4 of Decree-Law No. 290/2012, an agent residing in Cuba must mediate in the event that the patent applicant does not have a domicile or real and effective industrial establishment or commercial establishment in Cuba.