In accordance with Art. 2(1) of the Berne Convention, section 6 of the Copyright Act grants protection to eligible literary and artistic works, inter alia. Literary works are defined as works, other than a dramatic or musical work, which is written, spoken or sung, and accordingly includes a written table or compilation or a computer programme. Artistic work refers to
(a) a graphic work, photograph, sculpture or collage, whether the work is of artistic quality or not;
(b) a building or a model of a building, whether the building or model is of artistic quality or not; or
(c) a work of artistic craftsmanship to which neither paragraph (a) nor paragraph (b) applies.
Section 9 gives authors the exclusive right to copy the work, to issue copies of the work to the public, to perform the work in public or, in the case of a sound recording, film, broadcast or cable programme, to play or show the work in public; to broadcast the work or include it in a cable programme service and to make an adaptation of the work and, in relation to such adaptation, to do any or all of the foregoing acts. The right to translate literary and artistic works in Art. 8 is expressly included in the definition of adaption under the Act.
Protection lasts for 50 years after the life of the author (s. 10) which is the minimum standard set by Art. 7 (this includes anonymous and pseudonymous works). A work of joint authorship qualifies for copyright protection if any of the authors satisfies the eligibility requirements. [Art. 7bis/s. 7(2)].
The principle of automatic protection in Art 5 of the Berne is reflected as the Act contains no formal requirements for protection. The Act contains a number of exceptions permitted under Berne including artistic and literary works used in administrative and judicial proceedings, the course of education, research and private study, criticism or review, reporting of current events, incidental inclusion and use for charitable purposes. Use in such circumstances is subject to fair dealing principles (s. 54).
In accordance with Art. 16, a copyright holder whose rights have been infringed or suspects that their rights have been or will be infringed:
1) has legal recourse to bring an action against the infringer (s.32).
2) can notify the Comptroller of Customs in writing requesting the Comptroller to treat infringing printed copies as prohibited goods under the Customs (Control and Management) Act, Cap. 20.04 during a period specified in the notice
Section 141 also provides that where a member of the Police Force of or above the rank of Inspector is satisfied that there is reasonable cause to believe that an offence against this Act is being committed, he or she may give directions to any constable authorising him or her to
(a) enter and search any premises or place;
(b) stop, board and search any vessel, other than a ship of war, or any aircraft, other than a military aircraft; or
(c) stop and search any vehicle, in which the constable reasonably suspects there is an infringing copy of a work or an illicit recording or any article used or intended to be used for making infringing copies or illicit recordings; and
(d) seize, remove or detain
(i) any article which appears to the constable to be an infringing copy or an illicit recording or any other article which appears to him or her to be intended for use for making such copies or recordings; and
(ii) anything which appears to him or her to be or to contain, or to be likely to be or to contain, evidence of an offence under this Act.
