Copyright Act 1987 (Singapore)/Part VIII

Layout 2

PART VIII
EXTENSION OR RESTRICTION OF ACT

Application of Act to countries other than Singapore

184.—(1) The Minister may make regulations applying any of the provisions of this Act specified in the regulations, in relation to a country so specified, in any one or more of the following ways, so as to secure that those provisions:

(a) apply in relation to literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, sound recordings, cinematograph films or editions first published in that country as they apply in relation to literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, sound recordings, cinematograph films or editions first published in Singapore;

(b) apply in relation to persons who, at a material time, are citizens or nationals of that country as they apply in relation to persons who, at such a time, are citizens of Singapore;

(c) apply in relation to persons who, at a material time, are resident in that country as they apply in relation to persons who, at such a time, are resident in Singapore;

(d) apply in relation to bodies incorporated under the laws of that country as they apply in relation to bodies incorporated under the laws of Singapore;

(e) apply in relation to television broadcasts and sound broadcasts made from places in that country, by one or more organisations constituted in, or under the laws of, that country, as they apply in relation to television broadcasts and sound broadcasts made from places in Singapore by the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation;

(f) apply in relation to cable programmes sent from places in that country, as they apply in relation to cable programmes sent from places in Singapore.

(2) Regulations made under subsection (1)—

(a) may apply the provisions of this Act without exception or modification or applying a provision of this Act in relation to a country other than Singapore in accordance with that subsection subject to exceptions or modifications specified in those regulations;

(b) may apply the provisions of this Act either generally or in relation to such classes of works or other subject-matter, or other classes of cases, as may be specified in those regulations.

(3) The Minister shall not make regulations under this section applying any of the provisions of this Act in the case of a country, other than a country which is a party to a Convention relating to copyright to which Singapore is also a party, unless the Minister is satisfied that, in respect of the class of works or other subject-matter to which those provisions relate, provision has been or will be made under the laws of that country whereby adequate protection will be given to owners of copyright under this Act.

Provisions as to international organisations

185.—(1) Where it appears to the Minister that it is desirable that this Act should apply in relation to an organisation—

(a) of which two or more countries, or the Governments of two or more countries, are members; or

(b) that is constituted by persons representing two or more countries, or representing the Governments of two or more countries,

the Minister may by regulations made under this Act declare that organisation to be an international organisation to which this Act applies.

(2) An international organisation to which this Act applies that otherwise does not have, or at some material time otherwise did not have, the legal capacities of a body corporate shall have, and shall be deemed at all material times to have had, the legal capacities of a body corporate for the purpose of holding, dealing with and enforcing copyright and for the purposes of all legal proceedings relating to copyright.

(3) Where an original work, or a sound recording or a cinematograph film is made by or under the direction or control of an international organisation to which this Act applies in such circumstances that copyright would not subsist in the work, sound recording or cinematograph film apart from this subsection—

(a) copyright shall subsist in the work, sound recording or cinematograph film;

(b) that copyright shall subsist so long as the work, sound recording or cinematograph film remains unpublished; and

(c) the organisation shall, subject to Part X, be the owner of that copyright.

(4) Where an original work, or a sound recording or a cinematograph film is first published by or under the direction or control of an international organisation to which this Act applies, in such circumstances that, apart from this subsection, copyright would not subsist in the work, the sound recording or cinematograph film, as the case may be, immediately after the first publication thereof—

(a) copyright shall subsist in the work, sound recording or cinematograph film, or, if copyright in the work, sound recording or cinematograph film subsisted immediately before its first publication, copyright shall continue to subsist in the work, sound recording or cinematograph film;

(b) that copyright shall subsist until the expiration of 50 years after the expiration of the calendar year in which the work, sound recording or cinematograph film, as the case may be, was first published; and

(c) the organisation shall, subject to Part X, be the owner of that copyright.

(5) Where an edition of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or of two or more literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, other than an edition that reproduces a previous edition of the same work or works, is published by, or under the direction or control of, an international organisation to which this Act applies in such circumstances that copyright would not, apart from this subsection, subsist in the edition immediately after the first publication of the edition—

(a) copyright shall subsist in the edition;

(b) that copyright shall subsist until the expiration of 25 years after the expiration of the calendar year in which the edition was first published; and

(c) the organisation shall, subject to Part X, be the owner of that copyright.

(6) Parts III and IV, other than the provisions of those Parts relating to the subsistence, duration or ownership of copyright, shall apply in relation to copyright subsisting by virtue of this section in like manner as it applies in relation to copyright subsisting by virtue of those Parts.

Denial of copyright to citizens of countries not giving adequate protection to Singapore works

186.—(1) If it appears to the Minister that the law of a country does not give adequate protection to Singapore works, or does not give adequate protection in relation to a class or classes of such works (whether the lack of protection relates to the nature of the work or the nationality, citizenship or country of residence of its author, or all of those matters), the Minister may by regulations make provision in relation to that country in accordance with subsection (2).

(2) Regulations made for the purposes of this section may provide, either generally or in such classes of cases as are specified in the regulations, that copyright under this Act does not subsist in works first published after a date specified in those regulations (which may be a date before the commencement of those regulations or before the commencement of this Act) if, at the time of the first publication of those works, the authors of the works were or are—

(a) citizens or nationals of a country specified in those regulations, not being at that time persons resident in Singapore; or

(b) in the case of works being sound recordings or cinematograph films—bodies incorporated under the law of a country specified in those regulations.

(3) In making regulations for the purposes of this section, the Minister shall have regard to the nature and extent of the lack of protection for Singapore works by reason of which the regulations are made.

(4) In this section—

“Singapore work” means a work the author of which was, at the time when the work was made, a qualified person for the purpose of the relevant provision of this Act;

“author”, in relation to a sound recording or a cinematograph film, means the maker of the recording or film;

“the relevant provision of this Act” means—

(a) in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work—section 27; and

(b) in relation to a sound recording or a cinematograph film or a cable programme—Part IV;

“work” means a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, a sound recording, a cinematograph film or a cable programme.