High Court Orders Details of Illegal Downloaders to Be Divulged
03 October 2012
In a recent copyright infringement case in Singapore, the High Court has ordered a local Network Service Provider (NSP) to furnish Japanese anime copyright owners with the internet protocol (IP) addresses of the NSP’s subscribers who had illegally downloaded anime titles. The case was reported by lawyers at the Singapore office of KASS International.
Anime refers to a distinct type of cartoon animation originating from Japan.
“The facts of the case are rather interesting,” the KASS lawyers note. “The case was filed by licensee Odex Pte Ltd (Odex), a Singapore company (and not the licensor/copyright owner). Odex is licensed to distribute various anime titles in Singapore.
In its Statement of Claim, Odex requested that the NSP release the IP addresses of subscribers who were downloading anime titles illegally. However, it was unsuccessful in obtaining the IP addresses as it was determined that Odex was not an exclusive licensee in Singapore, the lawyers wrote.
Odex subsequently appealed with anime copyright owners joining as parties to the application.
“The High Court ruled that Odex was not the right party to make the court application. Interestingly, the High Court ruled that the NSP must provide the details of downloaders to the actual copyright owners,” the lawyers wrote, noting that the firm “strongly recommends” clients who have licensed their copyrights, patents, trademarks or designs in Singapore revisit their license agreements, “particularly on issues of who should be parties in litigation before taking any legal action against any other parties.”
Launch of Chinese Domain Names for Websites in Singapore
The Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC) has announced the launch of Chinese domain names (CDNs) for websites in Singapore. Registration for these CDNs will be done through a series of priority phases, leading up to the General Launch slated for June 10, 2010.
Chinese Domain Names are internet domain names which consist of or contain Chinese characters, and will be in the form .sg or .com.sg – for instance, 心.com.sg. According to lawyers at Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow, writing in a recent Client Alert, each successful applicant for a CDN will be given domain names in both traditional and simplified Chinese, and will be granted an option to select and activate other domain names (variants) from a list of variants given by SGNIC.
SGNIC has permitted domain names which are wholly Chinese, as well as those with a mix of English and Chinese words.
Priority Phase I, which ended January 5, was open only to government agencies. Priority Phase II began on January 7 and is open to registered trademark owners who satisfy the following criteria:
• The applicants are proprietors of trademarks lodged with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS);
• The CDN sought to be registered is of the same trade mark lodged with IPOS; and
• The trademark remains as a registered mark on the IPOS register for the whole Soft Launch period (ending June 9).
For the above, the relevant trademark must not be a device mark, numeral mark combined with a device mark or composite mark, the Client Alert says.
Applications must be submitted by February 18. Should two or more registered trademark owners seek to register the same CDN, they will be invited to bid for the CDN.
There is no objection period for Priority Phase II, and all successfully-applied CDNs will be activated en masse on March 24.
The Sunrise Phase is essentially a pre-launch promotion, taking place after Priority Phase II and before the general launch during which all members of public (including those who already have registered CDNs) will be able to bid for CDNs. Unlike the general launch, CDN applications in this phase will be dealt with as a group and will not be subject to an objection period.
The General Launch will commence on June 10, when all CDNs yet to be allocated during the above three phases will be made available to the general public on a first-come-first-served basis, the Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow Client Alert says.
