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SG’s Copyright Act 2021: Public consultation on exceptions involving access control measures begins
24 April 2024
The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) launched a public consultation on Monday, April 22, 2024, to seek feedback on the exceptions available in Singapore’s Copyright Act 2021 (CA) to allow users to circumvent technological measures that control access to copyright works or protected performances.
Technological measures that control access to copyright material are also called access control measures. These are technologies, devices or components functioning like digital locks to control access to these works and prevent copyright infringement. The CA generally prohibits users from circumventing these access control measures or from selling products and services that allow others to do so.
However, these technological measures may unintentionally restrict legitimate and non-infringing uses, such as the exhibition of films or video clips for educational purposes. Hence, in limited situations, the CA provides exceptions in which users are permitted to circumvent these access control measures. The current exceptions are set to expire on December 31, 2024.
Specifically, the MinLaw and IPOS would like to seek feedback on the following: 1) Whether the existing exceptions should be retained and whether they need to be modified; and 2) Whether new exceptions should be introduced for existing non-infringing uses or any new non-infringing uses resulting from the enactment of the CA.
Members of the public are invited to submit their views by May 19, 2024, via:
- MinLaw’s feedback website at http://go.gov.sg/prescribedexceptions-consult2024
- Email – MLAW_Consultation@mlaw.gov.s
- Hard copy – to MinLaw Intellectual Property Policy Division, Ministry of Law 100 High Street, #08-02, The Treasury Singapore 179434
Individuals who wish to submit their feedback via email or in hard copy should use the subject or header “2024 Public Consultation on Prescribed Exceptions in Part 6, Division 1 of the Copyright Regulations 2021.” They must also include their name, email address and contact numbers.
The full public consultation paper may be viewed at https://www.mlaw.gov.sg/public-consultation-on-ca-exceptions2024.
The public consultation is part of a periodic review of the exceptions in the CA, which is conducted once every four years to take into account technological developments.
- Asia IP
