Copyright Act - Singapore Statutes Online

(CHAPTER 63)

(Original Enactment: Ordinance 18 of 1914)

REVISED EDITION 1985

(30th March 1987)

An Act relating to copyright and matters related thereto.

[17th April 1914]

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Copyright Act.

Importation of copies

2. ^*For the purpose of the application of section 14 of the Imperial Copyright Act 1911 [U.K. 1911 c. 46] to the importation into Singapore of copies of works made out of Singapore —

(a)

the Trade Development Board shall perform the duties and may exercise the powers thereby imposed on or given to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;

(b)

regulations made by the Trade Development Board under that section shall require the approval of the President;

(c)

such regulations may provide that notices given to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, if communicated by them to the Trade Development Board, shall be deemed to have been given by the owner of the copyright to the Trade Development Board;

(d)

the works prohibited to be imported by that section shall, if imported into Singapore, be forfeited, and may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of as the President directs, and any person who —

(i)	imports or brings or is concerned in importing or bringing into Singapore any such works whether the same are unshipped or not;
(ii)	unships or assists or is otherwise concerned in unshipping any such works;
(iii)	knowingly harbours, keeps or conceals, or knowingly permits or suffers or causes to be harboured, kept or concealed any such works; or
(iv)	knowingly acquires possession of those works,

shall, for each such offence, forfeit treble the value of those works or $2,000 at the election of the Trade Development Board.

^*References formerly in this section to the Registrar of Imports and Exports are here, in accordance with section 18(2) of the Trade Development Board Act (Cap. 330), replaced by references to the Board.

Penalties for dealing with infringing copies, etc.

3.—(1) Any person who knowingly —

(a)	makes for sale or hire any infringing copy of a work in which copyright subsists;
(b)	sells or lets for hire, or by way of trade exposes or offers for sale or hire any infringing copy of any such work;
(c)	distributes infringing copies of any such work either for the purposes of trade or to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright;
(d)	by way of trade exhibits in public any infringing copy of any such work; or
(e)	imports for sale or hire into Singapore any infringing copy of any such work,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50 for every copy dealt with in contravention of this section, but not exceeding $1,000 in respect of the same transaction; or, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to such fine or to imprisonment which may extend to 2 months.

(2) Any person who knowingly makes or has in his possession any plate for the purpose of making infringing copies of any work in which copyright subsists, or knowingly and for his private profit causes any such work to be performed in public without the consent of the owner of the copyright shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to such fine or to imprisonment which may extend to 2 months.

(3) The court before which any such proceedings are taken may, whether the alleged offender is convicted or not, order that all copies of the work or all plates in the possession of the alleged offender, which appear to it to be infringing copies or plates for the purpose of making infringing copies, be destroyed or delivered up to the owner of the copyright or otherwise dealt with as the court thinks fit.

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