Copyright is a protection given to authors, copyright owners and performers of their original work and performances as prescribed under the Copyright Act 1987.

Copyright gives recognition and legal rights to works produced by artists, designers, authors and more, ensuring they receive full credit and payment for their work. Copyright essentially acts as a legal tool to prevent plagiarism and theft of written works.

Set out below are several works eligible for copyright:

1. Literary works (e.g. books, newspaper articles, and blog posts)
2. Musical works (e.g. melodies)
3. Artistic works (e.g. paintings, photographs)
4. Films (e.g. cinema films, home videos, i.e. Star Wars film)
5. Sound recordings (e.g. cassette tapes, CDs, vinyl LPs, and DVDs)
6. Broadcasts (e.g. The Simpsons show broadcast on a particular TV channel)
7. Derivative works (e.g. re-performance/re-recording of a piece of the original work)

1. Literary, musical or artistic works - Copyright in any literary, musical or artistic work shall subsist during the life of the author and shall continue to subsist until the expiry of a period of 50 years after his death.
2. Broadcasts - Copyright which subsists in a broadcast, transmitted either by wireless or cable means, the protection period is 50 years computed from when the broadcast was first made.
3. Film, sound recordings and performances - Copyright work of these categories shall subsist for 50 years from the time the work was published or fixed for the film and sound recordings. The copyright work for a performance shall subsist from the time the performance was performed or fixed in a sound recording.

The rights of a copyright owner can be found on the MyIPO website as set out below:-

1. Legal Rights - Copyright owners, authors and performers are given exclusive rights to control their original work under the copyright law. Legal rights that are given to them include the rights to enforce their copyrighted works in cases of infringement either by civil or criminal action.
2. Economic Rights - Economic rights that are given to rights holders include rights of reproduction in a material form, rights of communication to the public, rights of performance, showing or playing to the public, rights of distribution to the public by sale or other form of ownership transfer and rights of commercial rental. Economic rights allow the owner of rights to gain economic rewards from the use of his or her works by the user or for commercial purposes. The owner of copyright is entitled to assign or license the right. Such an assignment or license must be executed in writing.
3. Moral Rights can be divided into 2 parts as follows:-
   1. Paternity Rights - This right allows the author to claim the right to be identified as the author or the originator of the work.
   2. Integrity Rights - This right authorises the author to prevent or prohibit any users from distorting, mutilating or effecting other modifications of his or her works whereby the result of the modification will significantly alter the original work and adversely affect the author’s honour or reputation. Moral rights are not capable of assignment as they are personal in nature. Nevertheless, they may be exercised by a personal representative after the author’s demise.