Copyright Notice:
Under Singapore law the Copyright Act (Cap. 63) (“the Act”) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement unless it is a reproduction that is a fair dealing under the Act.
A fair dealing with copyrighted material includes a dealing of a work, for the purposes of research or study, of one or more articles on the same subject matter in a periodical publication, or, in the case of any other work, of a reasonable portion of a work.
In the case of a published work that is not an artistic work of not less than 10 pages, a reasonable portion means 10% of the number of pages of the work, or a single chapter.
In the case of a published work in electronic form, a reasonable portion means 10% of the total number of bytes, or of the total number of words in the work, or of the contents of the work.
It is also a fair dealing of a work or an adaptation thereof if it is for the purpose of criticism and review and a sufficient acknowledgement of the work is made. Sufficient acknowledgement means an acknowledgement identifying the work by its title, or other description, and its author, unless the work is anonymous or pseudonymous.
More extensive reproduction may constitute fair dealing. To determine whether it does, it is necessary to have regard to the Section 35 of the Act. A court may impose penalties and award damages in relation to offences and infringements relating to copyright material.
