A long running legal saga has now come to an end with the Singapore Court of Appeal's decision that Virtual Map (VM) had no further right to appeal against the High Court's decision finding them guilty of infringing the Singapore Land Authority's (SLA) copyright in it's street directory vector data and it's address point vector […]
Singapore Copyright Infringement – Karaoke operators to pay copyright fees
Recently, Karaoke operators in Singapore were confused when the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (COMPASS) informed them that they violated copyright laws, as they did not have legal permission to copy the music and lyrics of composers into their karaoke-on-demand (KOD) systems. KOD systems are generally automated databases of digitized karaoke and music videos, […]
Singapore Copyright Infringement Online TV show recording service sued by Broadcasting Company
An internet start up launched its online service RECORDTV in July 2007, allowing Singaporeans for the first time to record free-to-air TV shows aired by Mediacorp, Singapore's only broadcasting company, over the Internet. Founders Carlos Fernandes and Varsha Jagdale bought out an American company which had pioneered the service in the late 1990s. Using this […]
Intellectual Property Laws In Thailand And The Fashion Industry
The Thai government hopes that Thailand can become a great world trendsetter for fashion design in the near future. Although there is no specific legislation that protects fashion design, there are various Intellectual Property Rights provisions that can be called upon to secure exclusive fashion design rights as well as a general tort provision against […]
Singapore Parallel Imports - A glass of ke kou ke le please
More and more Singapore shops are selling parallel import goods that range from cars, shampoos, CDs to drinks. These parallel goods are cheaper than the same goods sold through the authorised dealers. For example, the Chinese version of the Coca-Cola, with label in Chinese 'ke kou ke le', is sold at $1.95 (USD1.43) for a […]
Singapore – Online Map Distributor found guilty of copyright infringement
Virtual Map (VM), the parent company of a popular website that features interactive street maps of Singapore, has had its appeal dismissed. VM lost its battle against a government agency, which accused it of copying state data and materials to use for its online maps. VM had appealed against the District court's decision that it […]
Singapore Copyright Infringement - Here comes Meizu M8, no need to wait for iPhone
In spite of Singapore’s very small population, it has more than ninety percent (90%) mobile phone penetration rate. This is nearly four million users; many of which are eager to upgrade to the latest phone models. It has been argued that this is the reason why Apple chose Singapore to launch its revolutionary iPhone in […]
Singapore Copyright Saga – Right of privacy v Virtual Copyright
The case initiated by Singapore anime distributor- Odex, against Internet service provider- Pacific Internet in August 2007, has been concluded As a recap, Odex brought several lawsuits against Singapore-based Internet service providers so as to obtain details of the identities of online copyright infringers who had illegally downloaded anime movies. In the District Court, Judge […]
India and America - Hollywood and Bollywood join forces against piracy
With over one billion people, India is one of the world's largest markets for films; this includes both home grown "Bollywood" and Hollywood movies. However, both Hollywood and Bollywood complain that piracy, a phenomenon throughout Asia, is cutting into their earnings. Both lose millions of dollars a year due to lax enforcement of copyright laws […]
Asian Countries fight copyright infringement
The attempt to combat piracy in the ASEAN region seems like an up-hill task. It has reached the point that potential investors are more concerned about whether their IP rights will be protected as opposed to where the most profit can be made. Thus, Asia is regarded as a destination to be explored with great […]