Singapore: Amended Copyright Act Seeks to Stop Online Piracy

SINGAPORE – Singapore parliament recently passed an amended Copyright Act that aims to put a stop to online piracy and give copyright owners greater ability to protect their rights in the online space.The amended act allows owners to obtain blocking orders against infringing websites. They can do this by applying directly to the court, without having to first establish liability on the part of the network service provider for copyright infringement.Previously, copyright owners needed to send a request to network service providers to disable access or remove copyright infringing material. This was done by issuing a take-down notice to the network service provider. Since there is no rule making it mandatory to comply, service providers need not act on such notices.