Copyright registration in Singapore. Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. Singapore is the only country in Asia with a AAA sovereign rating from all major rating agencies. This country is a major financial and shipping hub and has been identified as a tax haven. Singapore is placed highly in key social indicators: education, healthcare, quality of life, personal safety, and housing. Singaporeans enjoy one of the world’s longest life expectancies, the fastest Internet connection speeds, and one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of copyright registration in Singapore.
Copyright in Singapore
Unlike other intellectual property rights such as trademarks, patents, industrial designs, plant varieties, etc., copyright does not need to be registered for protection but will be automatically protected from the time the works are created.
The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.
Accordingly, whether registered or not, the copyright to the work will still be protected. However, the creator should still apply for copyright registration in Singapore early because early registration will give the author/owner of the work many advantages in the event of a dispute.
When unauthorized use of work occurs around the world, the owner of a work who has made a copyright registration in Singapore will not have to waste time and complicate matters with proving himself/herself to be the legitimate owner of the work.
Thereby, in order to avoid passivity, the owner of the work should make a copyright registration in Singapore immediately to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Singapore
Singapore is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 1998.
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the Berne Convention) is an international agreement governing copyright. The agreement was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886.
As Singapore is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Singapore will be given copyright protection in each of the Berne Convention member countries.
In most countries, copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work existed in material form. However, the copyright registration in Singapore is critical in order for the copyright owner to obtain evidence of copyright.
Evidence of copyright is extremely important even when the works are automatically protected according to copyright law.
When registering, the work will get an application submission date, as well as information about the creation and proof of creative concept and development. This provides unambiguous proof of authorship and ownership that can’t be denied.
Proof of copyright is essential in an age when the publishing, dissemination, and theft of material is extremely easy with the exposure of the Internet.
If copyright registration is not made, copyright owners will lose a big amount of money as well as time needed to resolve issues related to copyright, proving ownership of the original work.
If the copyright owner has already registered for copyright protection to the IP office, they would have a strong legal foundation which would increase their chance of winning against the violating parties.
Documents for copyright registration in Singapore
To obtain copyright registration in Singapore, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Singapore;
- Two copies of copyrighted work;
- Documents proving the right to apply;
- Written consent of co-authors, if the work has co-authors;
- Written consent of the co-owners, if the copyright is jointly owned;
- Notarized identity card of the author or owner of the work;
- Power of Attorney, if the applicant is an authorized person;
- Notarized copy of the company’s business registration certificate (if the owner is a company).
The copyright law of Singapore
On Friday, October 8, 2021, the Singaporean government published the Copyright Act 2021 (No. 22 of 2021) to repeal and re‑enact the Copyright act (chapter 63 of the 2006 revised edition) to provide for copyright, the protection of performances and related rights, and to make related and consequential amendments to certain other acts.
Date of Commencement: 21 November 2021 Parts 1 to 8, Divisions 1, 3 and 4 of Part 9, Part 10, sections 499, 500, 501(1), 502 to 506, 507(1), (2) and (3), 507(4)(a) and (b), 507(5), (6), (7), (8) and (9) and Part 12
Date of Commencement: 1 April 2022 Sections 501(2) and (3) and 507(10)
You can see a list of Singapore IP firms here.