New Singapore Copyright Act to Promote Innovation
Singapore’s new Copyright Act (as amended) came into force on 21 November 2021 (the “Act”). The Act has introduced a number of changes to reflect technological developments and to provide right holders with more tools to protect and monetise their copyright, as well as to clarify and expand certain educational and fair use exemptions. The key developments introduced are set out in this alert.
1. Equitable Remuneration for Sound Recordings
Right holders have a new right to equitable remuneration when their recordings are broadcasted or publicly performed in Singapore. Restaurants, cafes, hotels, bars, shopping centers and other public spaces that play recorded music (or podcasts or audiobooks containing music) to the public will likely see an increase in their music license fees.
2. Creators Are the New Default Owners of Commissioned Work Upon Creation
Commissioned creators of photographs, portraits, engravings, sound recordings and films, will now be the first owner of the copyright in the work by default. This position can be modified in the commissioning agreement, as such, greater care must be given when reviewing such agreements and any templates ought to be revisited.
3. Default Ownership of Copyright by Employers
The new Act now provides that employers will be the default owners of copyright in sound recordings and films that are created by their employees in the course of employment, unless otherwise modified by contract. Companies should review their existing employment contracts and templates and amend any provisions to reflect the new default position.
4. Right to Be Identified
Creators and performers now have a right to be identified whenever their works or performances are used in public. Anyone who uses or distributes such works in public, including on social media platforms, must “identify the respective creator(s) or performer(s) in a clear and reasonably prominent manner.” This obligation to identify does not apply if the creator’s or performer’s identity is unknown or if the user acquired the right to use the work prior to 21 November 2021.
5. “Fair Dealing” Now “Fair Use”
The courts no longer need to consider whether the user had a possibility of obtaining a right to use the work within a reasonable time at an ordinary commercial price.
6. New Exception for Educational Uses to Support Public Cultural Heritage Institutions
Non-profit educational institutions may use free-to-access materials from the internet, provided they adequately cite the owner/source and only use it within the network of the educational institution. Galleries, libraries, archives, and museums may make copies in certain circumstances, such as for preservation, record-keeping or restoration processes.
7. New Exception for Text and Data Mining
The new exception permits the copying of works specifically for computational data analysis, e.g. sentiment analysis, text and data mining, and training machine learning, subject to certain conditions and safeguards. This right cannot be restricted by contract.
8. Unpublished Works No Longer Enjoy Perpetual Copyright Protection
Unpublished works are now treated the same as published works, depending on the type of work and how it’s managed. Unpublished works will now have limited protection for 70 years after the death of the author, the making of the work, first publication or making it available to the public.
9. New Regulatory Framework for CMOs
There will be a public consultation in 2022 on the proposed regulatory framework, which is designed to ensure compliance by collective management organisations (“CMOs”) with minimum standards of transparency, good governance, accountability, and efficiency. CMOs and their officers who breach their license conditions or directions from the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) could be subject to cessation orders and financial penalties.
In summary, the new Act brings Singaporean law closer to the European approach to copyright protection, and in particular, the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. Further, the new text and data mining exception, alongside the recent launch of two National AI Programmes (with significant financial investment from the government) means that Singapore is now prime territory for companies investing in AI technology and machine learning.
Courtesy of Reed Smith LLP – Charmian Aw, Hannah Kong and Carolyn Chia
