23 September 1998

Singapore acceded to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works on 21 September 1998. The occasion was marked by the handing over in Geneva of Singapore's Instrument of Accession to the Berne Convention, by Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador See Chak Mun, to the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation, Mr Kamil Idris. The Convention will come into force for Singapore on 21 December 1998.

The Berne Convention sets out the protection to be granted for literary and artistic works. Under the Convention, works originating in any member country must be granted national treatment, i.e. the same level of copyright protection by other Berne Convention members as that accorded to the works of their own nationals. Copyright protection is automatic and is independent of whether protection has been granted to the work in its country of origin.

Works to be protected under the Berne Convention include "every production in the literary, scientific and artistic domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression" (Article 2(1) of the Convention). Some examples are books, pamphlets, dramatic works, musical compositions, drawings, works of architecture, sculptures, illustrations and maps. For more details on the Berne Convention, please refer to attached annex.

With Singapore's accession to the Berne Convention, works first published in Singapore, as well as works created by citizens and residents of Singapore (whether published or not), will now be entitled to copyright protection in more than 100 countries which are parties to the Berne Convention. A Singapore copyright owner will enjoy, in a Berne Convention country, the same level of copyright protection as that accorded by that country to its own nationals. Similarly, works originating from other Berne Convention countries will be given the same level of copyright protection as those accorded under Singapore law to Singapore copyright owners.

By acceding to the Convention, Singapore now joins the ranks of more than 100 countries which are parties to the Berne Convention, including the United States, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

The Berne Convention is one of the pillars supporting the international publishing industry. With Singapore’s accession to the Convention, it is expected that more international publishers will be attracted to establish publishing offices here. Authors will be more willing to have their original works published in Singapore. This will be another step towards establishing Singapore as a regional publishing centre.

Commented Ms Ng Kim Neo, Senior Director, Trade Policy Division, TDB, "Accession to the Berne Convention underscores the importance Singapore places on continually strengthening its intellectual property rights regime. This will enhance the attractiveness of our business environment for investors in knowledge-based industries."

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1. The Principle of National Treatment

Works originating in a Contracting State must, in other Contracting States, be granted the same protection which such States grant to the works of their own nationals;

 

2. The Principle of "Automatic" Protection

Protection must not be conditional on compliance with any formality; and

 

3. The Principle of the "Independence" of Protection

2. The protection covers the type of protected works, rights to be protected and the duration of protection. Protected works include "every production in the literary, scientific and artistic domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression" (Article 2(1) of the Convention).

 

3. The Convention also provides for the recognition of "moral rights". Generally, this is the right to claim authorship of the work and the right to object to any mutilation or modification of a work which would be prejudicial to the author’s honour or reputation. For example, where an author of a novel has assigned or licensed the film rights to another person, this right would give the author a right to object to alterations or changes in his work if those changes are likely to affect his reputation.

 

4. On the duration of protection, the general rule is that protection must be granted during the lifetime of the author and fifty years after his death. For audio-visual (cinematographic) works, the minimum term of protection is fifty years after its release or failing such an event, its creation. For works of applied art and photographic works, the minimum term is twenty-five years from the creation of the work.