Frequently Asked Questions

Copyright is the legal exclusive right of the author of a creative work to control the use and exploitation of that work. The Copyright Act (Cap. 63) and its subsidiary legislation form the legislation governing copyright law in Singapore.

Copyright protects the creative expression of an idea. It does not protect the idea itself nor does it protect facts, methods of processes or operations. Expression may be found in product design, written expression, traditional artistic works, and other original works. They include literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software and architecture.

There is no formal registration requirement or any requirement for the work to be marked with a copyright claim in order to secure copyright protection in Singapore. Your work is protected by a copyright at the moment you create it in a tangible form (written copy, recorded music, filmed movie, digital data saved on a computer disk).

Copyright protection for published works exists during the life of the author plus 70 years after his death. For works that were only published after the death of the author, it exists for 70 years after first publication.

Yes. Copyright in a work can be assigned by its owner to another person, organisation or company, provided that the assignment is in writing. The copyright can be assigned in whole or in part, and can be for the full term of copyright, or any part of it. It can be assigned generally or subject to limitations such as those relating to territory, medium or sector of the market. Once the assignment is made, the original owner has only those rights that the parties have agreed to remain with the original owner. Authors who submit manuscripts for publication are usually asked to assign their full copyright to the publisher, in exchange for a royalty payment. Royalty payments are usually based on a percentage of the selling price of each copy of the published work. An assignment of copyright does not assign an author's moral rights in the work.

However, often the owner, instead of assigning the copyright in a work, licences the copyright to another person, organisation or company. What this means is that the owner gives permission for that other party to use the work but only in the manner set out in the licence.

The use of the symbol "©" is an indication or notice of an assertion of copyright. It does not give the copyright owner any substantive right and is therefore not essential for a claim of copyright. Conversely, the non-use of the symbol does not imply a waiver or loss of copyright. It may, however, be a relevant fact in infringement proceedings.

If an infringing party claims that he did not know that the material was protected under copyright law, the Court may take that into account and award lower damages. The use of the © symbol would generally deprive the infringing party of such a defence.

In practice, the © symbol is usually followed by the name of the copyright owner plus the year when copies of the work were first made available. E.g. © Ong Tay & Partners 2004.

Any reproduction of copyright materials without the prior permission of the copyright owner is an infringement, and the mere acknowledgement of the source is not sufficient to constitute the permission of the copyright owner. Intentional or not, it is still an infringement.

It is not necessary to have reproduced the whole copy before it is considered infringing. It is infringing as long as a substantial amount has been copied.

Copyright is also infringed if a person:
* imports for sale, sells or distributes for trade, infringing copies without permission from the copyright owner;
* falsely attributes the authorship of a work; or
* falsely removes or alters the rights management information electronically attached to a work. Rights management information is an electronic tag containing information identifying the author of a work, and the terms and conditions relating to the use of the work.

Generally, a copyright work created by a Singapore citizen or resident is protected overseas through international conventions and agreements signed by Singapore. Member countries are usually required to grant uniform protection for copyright works as laid down in these conventions/agreements. The protection of a work by a Singapore resident would be as though the work was made by those countries' residents. The protection in most countries is also automatic in that there is no need to register in order to be conferred protection. Singapore is a signatory to the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). There are 151 countries under the Berne Convention.

If an artistic work (such as a drawing or a sculpture) has been applied into a design for a product with the consent of the original artist, and 50 or more copies have been made, then one cannot take action under copyright. If a shape, configuration, pattern or ornamental design is novel, it can be protected as a Registered Design under the Registered Designs Act (Cap. 266).

Copyright law seeks to looks at the many different ways that a creative work can be expressed or communicated, and reserve those expressions to the author or copyright owner.

A musical work offers a good way to understand the many layers of copyright protection that can exist at the same time. Take for example the play and movie, The Sound Of Music. The music composed would qualify as a musical work, and would be protected from copying, performance or broadcast by anyone but the copyright owner. If someone performed that musical work at a theatre, with permission, there would be separate copyright in the performance. No one but the owner of those performance rights could record that performance and sell it as a CD in a record store. If that performance was broadcast on television, again with permission, further copyright in the transmission of that performance would also be created. No one but the broadcast rights owner could broadcast the performance on radio or television.

The holders of publishing, performance and broadcast rights are often three different persons or organisations.

No you cannot. You can make your own unique recording of Beethoven's work and sell it, because there is no longer any copyright protecting his composition. However the unique arrangement and performance of Beethoven's composition by the symphony orchestra is protected by its own copyright. The sound recording itself is also protected by copyright.

Copyright materials sent over the Internet or stored on web servers are treated in the same manner as copyright material in other media. The fact that they are made available on the Internet does not constitute a waiver of copyright nor does it carry any implied licence for anyone to download or reproduce the material without the permission of the copyright owner.

It is good practice for all copyright owners to maintain documentary evidence of the date of creation of the work, and display a notice of copyright on the material posted on the Internet. The documentary evidence will facilitate proof of copyright should there be a need to enforce the copyright against a third party.

It is possible for a web page to be protected as a compilation, which is a sub-category of literary works. A web page will qualify for protection if the selection or arrangement of the materials in the web page constitute an intellectual creation. The protection conferred is on the web page as a whole. The individual materials have independent and concurrent copyright.

When browsing a webpage, a copy of that page is downloaded and cached on your computer by the browser software used to browse that webpage.

The Copyright Act provides an exception for the act of browsing of copyright materials made available on the internet. Browsing means viewing, listening or utilising materials made available on networks. This exception may apply where the work is temporarily downloaded for viewing or accessing material online. This is a very limited exception, and it may not apply if the material is saved or stored in any permanent form.

Generally, linking may not be infringing if it does not implicate any of the exclusive rights given to copyright owners. Otherwise, it would constitute an infringement.

You should look at the terms of use of the webpage you are hyperlinking to. Often it is set out on what conditions that website allows hyperlinking.

The source code of a software program is protected as a literary work under the Copyright Act. The layout and the display of the program when it is executed may also be protected as a compilation (which is a sub-category of literary works) if the selection or arrangement of materials constitute an intellectual creation. That is to say, the layout and graphic display of a program may be protected if there is some original input in the arrangement of materials.

The Recording Industry Performance Singapore Pte Ltd (RIPS) is a collective licensing body representing a number of record companies. RIPS is empowered to exercise the rights of these companies by granting requisite licences for the public performance of all music videos and karaoke videos owned or controlled by these companies.

Members of the public who intend to cause music and/or karaoke videos to be seen in public, broadcasted (including transmission by satellite), transmitted by cable programme service or reproduced or re-recorded should obtain an appropriate licence before carrying out such an act. For example, one would require permission from a record company before the record company's music and/or karaoke videos can be used in bars, pubs, lounges, discotheques, cafes, restaurants, retail shops, department stores, community centres, cruise ships, health and fitness centres, hotels and private clubs etc. The typical applicant will be one who wish to use these music and/or karaoke videos to provide karaoke entertainment, music video featured entertainment or music video background entertainment to the public or a section of the public.

RIPS will grant a licence to the applicant subject to the terms and conditions stated in the application form and payment of an appropriate fee. The licence gives permission to the applicant to use all or any of the music video and/or karaoke videos belonging to the recording companies listed in the application form.

The Composers and Authors Society of Singapore Ltd (COMPASS) is a non-profit public company which administers the public performance, broadcast, diffusion and reproduction rights in music and musical associated literary works on behalf of its members (composers, authors and music publishers). By virtue of the reciprocal agreements with many other similar music copyright organisations around the world, COMPASS protects an extensive repertoire written by thousands of songwriters and composers worldwide.

COMPASS deals specifically with music copyrights and the usage of musical works. Its role is hence different from that performed by the Recording Industry Performance Singapore Pte Ltd (RIPS) which deals with music videos and karaoke videos.

A proprietor of a business that provides music to the public, or if music is used in any entertainment that he/she provides, a licence from COMPASS is required. Examples of premises requiring annual licences are discotheques, nightclubs, karaoke lounges, pubs, restaurants, hotels, clubs, cinemas, concert halls, factories, skating rinks, hairdressing salons, fitness centres, office buildings and shopping centres. Permits are also granted to organisers of ad-hoc events. Any event other than a dramatico-musical work, an oratorio or other choral work, or a ballet, would require a permit from COMPASS if it involves the public performance of copyright musical works. E.g. of parties who require permits are organisers of concerts, exhibitions, promotional events, dinner and dances, carnivals and fun fairs.

Music Publishers (S) Ltd (MPS) was incorporated on 17th January 1989. It is an association currently comprising twelve music publishing companies who controls a large number of music copyrights in Singapore.

A piece of music composition is the unique creation of a songwriter and is therefore "private property". When using a music composition, prior copyright clearance must always be sought from the publisher representing that work here in Singapore. It does not matter how the composition is used - whether as mobile phone ring-tones; on compact discs, VCD, DVD; in TV commercials, movies; as print formats (as in music scores, song sheets, song books, lyrics printed in magazines, or displayed in websites) or any other formats etc. Failure to do so would constitute copyright infringement. Based on the type of usage, publishers would be able to quote on the approximate fee payable.

You are correct to say that this is confusing. This is because there are various rights involved in a copyrighted work. You should seek proper assistance from an experience lawyer. However as a guide:-

a) If you have a music CD that you want to play it in your business establishment (eg in a restaurant), then you must obtain a licence from COMPASS.

b) If you want to play a Video Disc in your business establishment (eg in a karaoke), then you must obtain a licence from COMPASS (for the music) and another licence from RIPS (for the video pictures).

c) If you want to include a song in your play to be sung by your actors, then you must obtain clearance from the music publisher. MPS can help you locate the music publisher.

d) If you want to use the original sound recording in say a TV commercial, then you need to obtain approval from the music publishers (MPS can assist) and from record company representing the artiste (COMPASS can assist).

e) If you are re-recording music for a TV commercial, then you need to only obtain approval from the music publishers (MPS can assist).