Malaysian Copyright Law
Malaysian copyright law is strong and reflects current international copyright protection norms. Malaysia is a signatory to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, and boasts strong domestic copyright legislation.
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Copyright Act of 1987
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The Copyright Act of 1987 established the legal framework for copyright protection that Malaysia utilizes. The Act defined what can be copyrighted, determined the protections afforded by a copyright and laid out enforcement mechanisms. The Act has been amended once.
1997 Amendment
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In 1997, Malaysia amended its copyright law to include software in the list of copyrightable material and extend copyright protections to digital forms of previously-covered works. Similar to the U.S. Digital Millennium Act, the amendment also deemed transferring copyrighted material over the internet to be a copyright infringement, as well as tampering with security measures that are embedded in software to prevent unauthorized copying.
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Copyright
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The Copyright Act states that the following media forms are eligible for copyright: literary, artistic or musical works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and any derivative works. The term of the copyright is the author’s lifetime plus 50 years after the author’s death (simply 50 years for films). The copyright holder has exclusive rights to reproduce, display and distribute the work.
Registration
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An author does not have to register a work to receive copyright protection in Malaysia. The Malaysian government automatically recognizes the author’s rights over the work once the following conditions have been met: effort has been made to produce an original work, the author is a qualified person (Malaysian citizenship, work permit and/or residency) or the work is first published in Malaysia and the work has been put into material form. Non-Malaysians’ rights are covered under the Berne Convention.
Enforcement
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Enforcement falls under the responsibilities of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, as well as the police. Copyright holders can register complaints with the Ministry, who will investigate the case and bring it to court. The copyright holder is responsible for proving that the defendant has infringed on the copyright.
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References
- Photo Credit book image by Pali A from Fotolia.com
