SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Yvonne Tang, Lim Siau Wen and Ruby Tham, Drew & Napier LLC
as tenants in common, but this is not always the case: see Nanofilm Technologies International Pte Ltd v Semivac International Pte Ltd [2018] 5 SLR 956. 3.4 Copyright Rights Rights Granted to Copyright Owners Rights granted to copyright owners are outlined by the Copyright Act. For instance, Section 112 of the Copyright Act provides that copyright in a literary, dramatic or musical work is the exclusive right to do all or any of the following acts: • (a) to make a copy of the work; • (b) to publish the work if the work is unpub - lished; • (c) to perform the work in public; • (d) to communicate the work to the public; • (e) to make an adaptation of the work; • (f) to do, in relation to an adaptation of the work, any of the acts specified in paragraphs (a) to (e); and • (g) in the case of a computer program – to enter into a commercial rental arrangement the essential object of which is the rental of the program. Section 113 of the Copyright Act provides that copyright in an artistic work is the exclusive right to do all or any of the following acts: • to make a copy of the work; • to publish the work if it is unpublished; and • to communicate the work to the public. These rights generally persist throughout the term of a copyright. Section 108(1) of the Copyright Act makes clear that, where a copyright owner has the exclusive right to do an act, the right is a right to exclude others from doing that act (or authorising the
doing of that act) without the authorisation of the copyright owner, and it is declared that the right is not a positive right of the copyright owner
to do that act. Moral Rights
Moral rights are recognised in Singapore. These rights are set out in the Copyright Act, Part 7, Divisions 1 and 2. 3.5 Term of Protection and Termination Duration of Protection The duration of protection would depend on various factors, such as: • whether the copyright work originates from Singapore or another jurisdiction; • whether and when the work is first published; • whether and when the work is first made available to the public; and • whether and when the author is identified. Generally, copyright protection for authorial works lasts the lifetime of the author and 70 years thereafter. Copyright protection lasts: • 25 years from the first publication of a pub - lished edition of an authorial work; • 70 years from the first publication/creation of a sound recording; • 70 years from the time a film is first made available to the public/from the creation of the film; and • 50 years from the making of a broadcast/ the first inclusion of a cable programme in a cable programme service. The operative provisions are Sections 114, 119, 122, 125, 128, 129 and 132 of the Copyright Act. For works originating from other jurisdictions,
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