We help you copyright your software, artistic and musical works in Singapore as well as your audiovisual material, and any other works in the fields of literature, science or fine arts.
The modern copyright system in Singapore is derived from the Copyright Act of 1987. Largely inspired by the Australian system, the Act was passed under pressure from the U.S. government, which criticized Singapore’s lack of protection for intellectual works. Thanks to the efforts made over the past 30 years, Singapore is now ranked second in the world for intellectual property rights protection in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2019 and first in Asia. However, Singapore has made a significant reform of the Copyright Act, which came into force on 21 November 2021.
Copyright is an intellectual property right designed to protect works of the mind expressed in tangible form and considered original. It allows the owner (usually the author of the work) to control the use and commercial exploitation of the work.
This implies that it is possible to prevent anyone else from reproducing, publishing, communicating or adapting his or her protected work.
In order to qualify for copyright protection, a work must meet the following conditions:
1. The work must be one of those protected by the Copyright Act, i.e. “an authorial work” such as:
➤ Literary works (a poem, a novel, a computer program)
➤ Dramatic works (a movie script, a play script, a choreography)
➤ Musical works
➤ Artistic works (drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs, architecture)
➤ Other works protected by the Copyright Act (sound recordings, films, television programs)
2. The work must be original, i.e. it must have been created by the author, and not be the result of copying another work.
3. The work must be “connected” to Singapore (the author must be a Singaporean citizen, a Singaporean resident or the work must have been first published in Singapore) or to one of the member countries of the Berne Convention or a member country of the World Trade Organization.
4. The work must be expressed in a tangible form, i.e. a mere idea cannot be protected, it must be written or reproduced on a tangible medium.
What are the formalities to benefit from the Copyright protection?
A work, if it respects the criteria previously mentioned, benefits from the protection of Copyright immediately upon its creation. Consequently, no recording is necessary in terms of Copyright, the only fixation of the work on a tangible support allows to access to the protection. It is then recommended to the author to protect himself from possible future contestation, to preserve a proof of the creation of the work and its date.
What are the rights granted to the author?
The rights guaranteed to the owner of the Copyright, include “economic” rights which are transferable and “moral” rights which are not.
➤ The economic rights include: the exclusive right to reproduce, publish, perform, communicate and adapt the work.
➤ Moral rights include: the right to be identified as the author of the work; the right that no other person be wrongly identified as the author of the work; the right not to be wrongly identified as the author of a copy that is not his or her own; the right that an altered copy be presented as unaltered.
However, there are exceptions that allow a third party to use or reproduce the work without the author’s consent in the following cases:
➤ When the work is used for data analysis
➤ When the work is used for non-profit purposes by educational institutions, museums, galleries, bookstores and archives
➤ When the work is partially reproduced for informational or critical purposes
➤ When the work is used in legal proceedings
➤ When the work is a film with historical archival footage
➤ When the work is used in a private and family context
What are the sanctions in case of violation of my rights?
The use of the copyrighted material exclusively to the owner of the copyright without the owner’s consent is an infringement of the owner’s rights.
Faced with the observation of the violation of its rights, the owner can either initiate a legal action, or initiate a mediation or an arbitration in view of an extra-judicial resolution of the dispute.
In the event of legal action, the sanctions for infringement of copyright are as follows:
Civil sanctions: it is possible to obtain an injunction to cease the activity that violates rights and the destruction of the illegal copies. Obtaining damages resulting from the infringement or being awarded all profits made by the third party infringer.
Criminal penalties: a person found guilty of illegally selling copies of the copyrighted work may be fined 10,000 Singapore Dollars per illegal copy up to a maximum of 100,000 Singapore Dollars and/or imprisoned for up to 5 years.
What can I do if my work is illegally reproduced on the Internet ?
In case of illegal reproduction of a protected work on the Internet, it is advisable to first obtain proof of the reproduction before considering possible legal action. It is also advisable to request that the content or the website reproducing the protected work be removed from the search engine results.
What is the duration of the Copyright protection?
➤ For literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works: 70 years from the death of the author.
➤ For sound recordings or films: 70 years from the date of first publication.
➤ For television programs: 50 years from the date of broadcast.
➤ For artistic performances: 70 years from the date of performance.
➤ For photographs: 70 years from the date of publication.
Who is the owner of the Copyright ?
In principle, the owner of the Copyright is the author of the work, or the person who has purchased the rights to it.
However, the Copyright owner is not the author of the work in the following situations:
➤ If the author created the work in the course of employment, in which case the owner is the employer.
➤ If the author is an employed journalist, in which case the employer owns the right to reproduce and publish the work (other rights remain with the author).
➤ If the work is a commissioned work such as a photograph or a portrait and it was contractually agreed before the new law dated November 21, 2021 that the first owner of the Copyright would be the commissioner.
In case of a collaborative work (when the work has been created by at least two authors and their contributions cannot be separated) the ownership of the Copyright belongs indivisibly to the different authors.
How to market my Copyright?
Like anything else that a person owns, it is possible to sell or lease one’s copyright. When the owner leases his or her copyright, it is called a license and when he or she sells it, it is called a transfer of rights.
It is entirely possible to lease/transfer the different rights to a work separately. For example, it is possible to transfer the reproduction rights of a work, while keeping or transferring to another person the performance rights.
But it is also possible to transfer the rights on a geographical territory, so that it is not rare to have a multitude of licenses, or different owners for the same work.
It also happens that authors mandate Collective Management Organizations (CMO) to manage their Copyright rights for them. These CMOs will administer, negotiate and license the work for the authors, but also collect the royalties.
Even if it is not mandatory, it is strongly advised to have a written agreement for any transfer or lease of rights specifying the price and the extent of the rights transferred.
Are my rights protected internationally?
In principle, copyright protection is territorial, which means that a work is protected only in Singapore.
However, as Singapore is a member of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), a work protected by Copyright in Singapore will also be protected in all countries that are also members of this Agreement (i.e. over 160 countries).
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