Another day, another Insider post on South-East Asian IPR! Continuing with our Singapore series, today’s article covers all the basics you’ll need to know to get started protecting your Copyright in Singapore.
Copyright is essential for the protection of creative works, and whilst most jurisdictions protect it automatically upon creation, it is still worth knowing what is or isn’t protected, what rights you have and how best to protect and enforce those rights in the event of infringement.
So read on, and as always, if you have any questions feel free to get in touch with the South-east Asia SME IPR Helpdesk experts for free, tailored advice!
What are copyrights?
Copyright is a legal term used to describe an exclusive bundle of rights granted to authors, artists and other creators for their creations. These rights include two sets of rights, ‘economic’ rights, i.e. the right to profit from your creative work through exclusive right to approve or deny permission to copy, licence, show, play or perform, broadcast, or adapt your work. Economic rights can be assigned to another person or organisation where the creator of the work wishes it, or where the creation has been produced under specific contractual conditions to this effect. ‘Moral’ rights cannot be assigned or sold, they provide that the author has the rights to be identified as creator of the work (where asserted in writing) and object to the work being used in a derogatory way or altered.
Copyrightable material
Singapore copyright law requires that in order to gain protection a creative work must be original and expressed in a tangible form, i.e. recorded, expressed in writing, printed etc. Originality in this context requires skill, labour or judgement in the creation of the work, but does not require inventiveness.
Examples of copyrightable materials in Singapore include; literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, photographs, published literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, sound recordings, films or performances and broadcasts and cable programs.
Copyright does not subsist in ideas, facts and principles, but only in the expression of such ideas, facts and principles, which cannot then be copied.
Terms of protection for copyright
In Singapore the duration of protection depends on the nature of copyright material as indicated in the table below:
Obtaining copyright protection in Singapore
In Singapore, works that qualify for copyright protection under the Copyright Act[1] do not need to be registered as copyright protection is conferred automatically to the author as soon as the creative work is expressed or fixed in a material form from which it is then capable of being reproduced. In general, copyright subsists in a work or subject-matter in Singapore if;
- The work or subject-matter was first published or made in Singapore or in a member country of the Berne Convention or the WTO[2]; or
- The author of the work or the maker of the subject was a citizen or resident of Singapore or of a member country of the Berne Convention or the WTO at the time the work was first published or made.
Enhanced protection for EU phonogram producers
Singapore’s Copyright Act does not, at present, provide for the right of performers and phonogram producers to remuneration for broadcasting and communication to the public of their works. However performance rights included in the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) will enable music producers to obtain broadcasting and performance royalties in Singapore. Within two years of the agreement coming into force, Singapore will introduce into its legal system a provision granting producers of phonograms a right to be remunerated, for example (a) when their sound recording is being broadcast by radio, including the playing of a broadcast in a public place; (b) for playing of a sound recording in a public places such as a shopping mall; (c) when a sound recording in a radio broadcast is played over the internet.
Singapore and the European Union concluded their Free Trade negotiations on 17 December 2012 and the agreement will be signed after all translations and verifications are completed[3].
Enforcement
Singaporean IP law offers three main avenues of enforcement for those facing infringement of copyrighted works; civil litigation, criminal prosecution, and customs seizures. Unlike most ASEAN countries, there are no administrative actions available in Singapore. In many cases however, private mediation via legal professionals is more effective and should be considered as a viable option. For copyright issues in particular, mediation is often an effective tool which, given the severity of penalties for infringement in Singapore, will often result in a favourable outcome, as well as representing a considerable saving over civil or criminal actions.
Civil litigation proceedings can be initiated with the Courts, which may award remedies including damages (or an account of profits), statutory damages, injunctions, and/or destruction orders for infringing goods.
Criminal prosecutions are applicable in cases of breach of the Copyright Act and a private criminal prosecution may be initiated by an IPR owner against infringers. Alternatively, the Intellectual Property Rights Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department may prosecute the infringer on its own initiative.
Penalties for infringement
Penalties for copyright infringement are strict and severe comparative to those in many jurisdictions. For example, if a company is found to have infringed a copyright to obtain commercial advantage, both the company and the employee will be legally liable.
Where infringers are charged in the criminal courts, penalties include a fine and/or a term of imprisonment. These sentences are not to be taken lightly and infringers found guilty under the Act of commercial exploitation of pirated materials have been sentenced to prison terms as long as seven years. Criminal actions will not result in any compensation for the rights holder, however civil proceedings can be pursued as a parallel claim and criminal conviction will considerably strengthen the case in civil courts.
It should be noted that the Singapore Copyright Act contains provisions against groundless threats of legal action. Therefore, any proposed demand letter should be carefully drafted to make clear the legal basis upon which your potential infringement claim is premised. A statement which merely notifies the other party of the existence of a trade mark registration does not constitute a threat of proceedings.
For more information on how best to protect and enforce your copyright in Singapore get in touch with one of our experts today for free, tailored advice to suit your needs.
[1] http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/details.jsp?id=6132
[2] See more details and a full list of all 167 members of the Berne Convention here: www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne and the WTO here www.wto.org