Copyright law:

protects intellectual property ( works that are fixed in any tangible means of expression). Examples: motion pictures, programs, computer programs, lyrics, music composed, scripts, written articles)

Intellectual dishonesty : Unauthorized or unacknowledged use of someone else’s literary or artistic creation.

Intellectual property

• The general term for intangible property rights which are a result of intellectual effort. Patents, trademarks, designs and copyright are the main intellectual property rights.


• Creative ideas and expressions of the human mind that possess commercial value and receive the legal protection of a property right. The major legal mechanisms for protecting intellectual property rights are copyrights, patents, and trademarks. Intellectual property rights enable owners to select who may access and use their property, and to protect it from unauthorized use.

Consists of two main branches:

1. Industrial property
   (e.g: patents, inventions, trademarks, industrial designs,)


2. copyright
   (e.g: literary, musical, artistic, photographic and audiovisual works).

Protects intellectual property.

Allows creative people to control the commercial copying and use of intellectual property they create such as books, film, video, audio, script, TV programs

Protect works that are “fixed in any tangible means of expression” produced by the creator

In broadcasting, copyright concerns what the station can do with the program. eg: issues of program alteration and duplication.

A copyrighted work gives authorization of the owner on the original

Example: a novelist authorizing works derived from the original (movie script based on a book)

Copyright laws protect intellectual property from misuse by other individuals. Ideas and information in print or electronic form are the property of the person who created them. You must obtain permission to use copyrighted material. You may use copyrighted materials for educational purposes if you adhere to the fair-use guidelines.

The Malaysian Copyright Act : WHAT THE COPYRIGHT ACT 1987 PROVIDES ?

Copyright protection in Malaysia is governed by the Copyright Act 1987 which provides comprehensive protection for copyrightable works.

The Act outlines the nature of works eligible for copyright (which includes computer software), the scope of protection, and the manner in which the protection is accorded.
A unique feature of the Act is the inclusion of provisions for enforcing the Act, which include such powers to enter premises suspected of having infringing copies and to search and seize infringing copies and contrivances.

The Copyright Act (1987) provides for the enforcement of the law by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, specifically the Enforcement Division, apart from the Police.

The Act also provides the necessary clout to the enforcement agencies to effectively carry out anti-piracy measures.
The Malaysian Copyright Act provides for a Copyright Tribunal whose function is to grant Licenses to produce and publish in the National Language a translation of a literary work written in any other language.

The Act is currently amended to expand the power of the tribunal to include arbitration of disputes relating to use of copyright works.

WHAT WORK IS ELIGIBLE FOR PROTECTION UNDER THE COPYRIGHT ACT 1987?

A work that is eligible is fulfillment of the following conditions :

Sufficient effort has been expended to make the work original in character.

The work has been written down, recorded or reduced to material form.

The author is a qualified person or the work is made in Malaysia or the work is first published in Malaysia.

Works eligible for protection are:

Literary works

Musical works

Artistic works

Films

Sound recording

Broadcasts

Derivative works

Published editions

The Communications and Multimedia Acts 1998 (CMA) - Industry standards:

Up until 1999 the Telecommunications Department and the Ministry of Information regulated the telecommunications and broadcasting industry respectively.

As a result of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA) the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (CMC) was commissioned to monitor developments in the convergent information communications technology (ICT) industry to ensure national policy objectives were followed.

The CMA replaced both the Telecommunications Act (1950) and the Broadcasting Act (1988) to establish a new regulatory framework to address the convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology.

The CMC is in the process of formulating a five-year plan to form the framework for a full range of telecommunication services to serve as guidelines for local ICT growth.

Section 41 of the Malaysian Copyright Act authorizes punishments that, if consistently applied, would be sufficient to deter commercial copyright piracy (fines of RM 10,000 per infringing copy, and/or five years' imprisonment, with a doubling for repeat offenders), these punishments are never imposed at a deterrent level. The only way to cure this long-standing problem, is to specify mandatory minimum punishments that would be imposed upon conviction of an offense involving piracy on a commercial scale.