1 -1. Short title, extent, commencement and application.

(1) This Act may be cited as the Copyrights Act, 1969.

(2) This Act shall apply throughout Malaysia.

(3) This Act shall come into operation on a date to be appointed by the Minister by notification in the Gazette, and different dates may be so appointed for different pro-visions of Act.

(4) This Act shall apply in relation to works made before the commencement of this Act as it applies in relation to works made thereafter.

2 -2. Interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:-

"adaptation" includes any of the; following, that is, to say:-

(a) in relation to a literary work, a version of the work (whether in its original language or a different language) in which it is converted into a dramatic work;

(b) in relation to a dramatic work, a version of the work (whether in its original language or a different language) which it is converted into a literary work;

(c) in relation to a literary or dramatic work:-

(i) a translation of the work;

(ii) a version of the work in which the story or action is conveyed wholly or mainly by means of puictures in a form suitable for reproduction in a book or in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical;

(d) in relation to a musical work, an arrangement or transcription of the work;

"artistic work" means, irrespective of artistic quality, a

3 -3. No copyright except by virtue of this Act.

Subject to this Act, no copyright shall subsist otherwise than by virtue of this Act.

4 -4. Works eligible for copyright.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section the following works shall be eligible for copyright:-

(a) literary works;

(b) musical works;

(c) artistic works;

(d) cinematograph films;

(e) sound recordings; (f) broadcasts.

(2) A literary, musical or artistic work shall not be eligible for copyright unless:-

(a) sufficient effort has been expended on making the work to give it an original character; and

(b) the work has been written down, recorded or otherwise reduced to material form.

(3) A work shall not be ineligible for copyright by reason only that the making of the work, or the doing of any act in relation to the work, involved an infringement of copyright in some other work.

5 -5. Copyright by virtue of citizenship or residence.

(1) Copyright shall be conferred by this section on. every work eligible for copyright of which the author or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, any of the authors is, at the time when the work is made, a qualified person, that is to say:-

(a) an individual who is a citizen of, or is a permanent resident in, Malaysia; or

(b) a body corporate constituted and vested with legal personality under the laws of Malaysia and established in Malaysia.

(2) The terms of copyright conferred by this section shall be calculated according, to the following table

Type of Work	Date of Expiration of Copyright
"(i) Literar

6 -6. Copyright by reference to country of origin.

(1) Copyright shall be confered by this section on every work which is eligible for copyright and which:-

(a) being a literary, musical or artistic work or cinematograph film is first published in Malaysia;

(b) being a work of architecture is erected in Malaysia or being another artistic work is incorporated in a building located in Malaysia;

(c) being a sound recording, is made in Malaysia; and

(d) being a broadcast, is transmitted from Malaysia and which has not been the subject of copyright conferred by section 5 of this Act.

(2) Copyright conferred on a work by this section shall have the same duration as is provided for in section 5 of this Act in relation to the same type of work.

7 -7. Copyright by reference to country of origin.

(1) Copyright shall be confered by this section on every work which is eligible for copyright and which is made by or under the direction or control of the Government and also such internetional bodies or other government organisations as may be prescribed.

(2) Copyright confered by this section on a literary, musical or artistic work, other than a photograph, shall subsist until the end of the expiration of twenty-five years from the end of the year in which it was first published.

(3) Copyright conferred by this section on a film, photograph, sound recording or broadcast shall have the same duration as is provided for by section 5 of this Act in relation to the same type of work.

(4) Sections 5 and 6 of this Act shall not be taken to confer copyright on works to which this section applies.

8 -8. Nature of copyright in literary, musical or artistic works and cinematograph films.

(1) Copyright in a literary, musical or artistic work or in a cinematograph film shall be exclusive right to control the doing in Malaysia of any of the following acts, namely the reproduction in any material form, the communication to the public and the broadcasting, of the whole work or a substantial part thereof, either in its original form or in adaption:-

(a) the doing of any of the aforesaid acts by way of fair dealing for purposes of research, private use, criticism or review, or the reporting of current events, subject to the condition that if such use is public, it is accompanied by an acknowledgement of the title of the work and its authorship, except where the work is incidentally included in a broadcast;

(b) the doing of any of the aforesaid acts by way of parody, pastiche or caricature.

(c) the inclusion in a film or broadcast of any artistic work situated in a place where it can be viewed by the public;

9 -9. Broadcasting of work incorporated in cinematograph films.

(1) Where the owner of the copyright in any literary, musical or artistic work authorizes a person to incorporate the work in a cinematograph film and a broadcasting service broadcasts the film, it shall, in the absence of any express agreement to the contrary between such owner and person, be deemed that the owner of the copyright authorised such broadcast.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-section (1) of this section, where a broadcasting service broadcasts a cinematograph film in which a musical work is incorporated, the owner of the right to broadcast the musical work shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be entitled to receive fair compensation from the broadcasting service.

(3) In the absence of an agreement on the compensation payable under the last preceding sub-section the amount of such compensation shall be determined by the competent authority appointed under section 16 of this Act.

10 -10. Nature of copyright in sound recording.

Copyright in a sound recording shall be the exclusive right to control in Malaysia the direct or indirect reproduction of the whole or a substantial part of the recording either in its original form or in any form recognizably derived from the original:-

Provided that the provisions of paragraphs (a), (f), (g), (j), (k) and (n) of the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 8 of this Act shall apply to the copyright in a sound recording in like manner as they apply to copyright in a literary, musical or artistic work or m a cinematograph film.

11 -11. Nature of copyright in broadcast.

Copyright in a broadcast shall be the exclusive right to control the doing in Malaysia of any of the following acts, namely, the recording, the reproducing and the rebroadcasting of the whole or a substantial part of the broadcast and the communication to the public, in places where an admission fee is charged, of the whole or a substantial part of a television broadcast, either in its original form or in any form recognizably derived from the original:-

Provided that:-

(a) the provisions of paragraphs (a), (g), (j), (n) and (q) of the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 8 of this Act shall apply to the copyright in a broadcast in like manner as they apply to copyright in a literary, musical or artistic work or a cinematograph film;

(b) the copyright in a television broadcast shall include the right to control the taking of still photographs from such broadcasts.

12 -12. First Ownership of copyright.

(1) Copyright conferred by sections 5 and 6 of this Act shall vest initially in the author:-

Provided that notwithstanding the provisions of sub-section (6) of section 13 of this Act, where a work:-

(a) is commissioned by a person who is not the author's employer under a contract of service or apprenticeship, or

(b) not having been so commissioned, is made in the course of the author's employment,

the copyright shall be deemed to be transferred to the person who commissioned the work or the author's employer, subject to any agreement between the parties excluding or limiting such transfer.

(2) Copyright conferred by section 7 of this Act shall, vest initially in the Government or such international bodies or other governmental organizations as may be prescribed, and not in the author.

(3) Subject to the provision of the last preceding, subse

13 -13. Assignment and licences.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, copyright shall be transmissible by assignment, by testamentary disposition, or by operation of law, as movable property.

(2) An assignment or testamentary disposition of copyright may be limited so as to apply to some only of the acts which the owner of the copyright has the exclusive right to control, or to a part only of the period of the copyright, or to a specified country or other geographical area.

(3) No assignment of copyright and no exclusive licence to do an act the doing of which is controlled by copyright shall have effect unless it is in writing.

(4) A non-exclusive licence to do an act the doing of which is controlled by copyright may be written or oral, or may be inferred from conduct.

(5) An assignment or licence granted by one copyright owner shall have effect as if granted by his co-owners also, and, subject to any contract between them, fees received by t

14 -14. Infringements.

(1) Copyright shall be infringed by any person who does, or causes any other person to do, without the licence of the owner thereof, an act the doing of which is controlled by copyright.

(2) Copyright shall also be infringed by any person who, without the licence of the owner of the copyright, imports into Malaysia, otherwise than for his private and domestic use, or distributes therein by way of trade, hire or otherwise, or by way of trade exhibits in public, any article in respect of which copyright is infringed under the last preceding sub-section.

(3) Subject to the provisions of this Act, infringements of copyright shall be actionable at the suit of the owner of, the copyright; and in any actions for such an infringement all such relief, by way of damages, injunction, accounts or otherwise, shall be available to the plaintiff as is available in any corresponding proceedings in respect of infringement of other proprietary rights.

15 -15. Offences

(1) Any person who at a time when copyright subsists by virtue of this Act in a work:-

(a) makes for sale or hire any infringing copy; or

(b) sells, lets for hire or by way of trade exposes or offers for sale or hire any such infringing copy; or

(c) distributes any such infringing copies; or

(d) by way of trade exhibits in public any such infringing copy; or

(e) imports into Malaysia, otherwise than for his private and domestic use, any such infringing copy; or

(f) makes or has in his possession any contrivance capable of being used for the purposes of making inging copies,

shall, unless he proved that he acted in good faith and had no reasonable grounds for supposing that copyright would or might be thereby infringed, be guilty of an offence and on conviction shall be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars for each infringing copy in respect of which the offence was committ

16 -16. Appointment of competent authority and duties of such authority.

(1) In any case where it appears to the competent authority that a licensing body:-

(a) is unreasonably refusing to grant licences in respect of copyright; or

(b) is imposing unreasonable terms or conditions on the granting of such licences,

the competent authority may direct that, as respects the doing of any act relating to a work with which the licensing body is concerned, a licence shall be deemed to have been granted by the licensing body at the time the act is done, provided the appropriate fees fixed by such competent authority are paid or tendered before the expiration of such periods as the competent authority may determine.

(2) in this section:-

"competent authority" means an authority consisting of three persons one of whom shall be the Chairman appointed from time to time by the Minister for the purpose of exercising jurisdiction under the provisions of this Act;

"licen

17 -17. Provisions for restricting importation of infringing copies.

(1) The owner of copyright in any work may give notice in writing to the Minister:-

(a) that he is owner of the copyright in the work; and

(b) that he requests the Minister, during a period specified in the notice, to treat as prohibited goods copies of the work to which this section applies:-

Provided that the period specified in a notice under this sub-section shall not exceed such period of years as may be prescribed by the Minister under sub-section (4) and shall, in any case not extend beyond the end of the period for which the copyright is to subsist.

(2) This section applies to any copy of a work made outside Malaysia which, if it had been made in Malaysia, would have infringed the copyright in the work; and for the purpose of this section such copies shall be referred to as "infringing copies".

(3) Where a notice has been given under this se

18 -18. Licence of publish translations.

(1) Any person may apply to the competent authority appointed under section 16 for a licence to produce and publish in the National language a translation of a literary or dramatic work written in any other language; and, where such an application is made in respect of a work, the competent authority after holding such inquiry as it thinks necessary may, subject to this section, grant to the applicant a licence (not being an exclusive licence) to produce-and publish a translation of the work in the. National language, on condition that the applicant shall pay to the owner of the right of translation in the work in respect of copies sold to the public royalties at a rate to be determined by the competent authority in the prescribed manner.

(2) A licence may be granted on an application made under sub-section (1) in respect of a work only where:-

(a) a translation, of the work in the National language has not been published by the ow


19 -19. Administration of government copyright.

Where the copyright in any work is vested in. the Government, the heads of the Ministries or Departments concerned with the copyright shall be responsible for the administration and control of that copyright on behalf of the Government:-

Provided that the Minister may authorise the Director of National Archives to administer and control that copyright on behalf of the Government.




20 -20. Regulations and extensions of application of Act.

The Minister shall make regulations prescribing anything. which may be prescribed under this Act and may make regulations extending the application of this Act in respect of any or all of the works referred to in sub-section (1) of section 4 of this Act:-

(a) to individuals who are citizens of, or permanent residents in,

(b) to bodies corporate constituted and established in or under the laws of,

(c) to works, other than sound recordings and broadcasts, first published in,

(d) to works of architecture erected in, and to other artistic works incorporated in a building located in,

(e) to sound recordings made in,

(f) to broadcasts transmitted from,

a country which is a party to a treaty or a member of any convention or union to which Malaysia is also a party or a member as the case may be and which provides for protection of copyright in works which are protected under this Act.

21 -21. Determination of certain contracts.

Immediately upon the coming into operation of this Act, every contract entered into, substantially for the licensing of the doing of any act in respect of copyright which is not controlled by copyright under the provisions of this Act shall, if entered into before the coming into operation of this Act, be determined and of no further effect, and shall, if entered into after the operation of this Act, be null and void.




22 -22. Savings.

(1) Nothing in this Act shall affect any right or privilege of any person (including the Government) under any written law, except in so far as that law is expressly repealed, amended or modified by or inconsistent with this Act.

(2) Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of the Government of Malaysia (or any person deriving title from that Government) to sell, use or otherwise deal with articles forfeited under the laws relating to customs, including articles so forfeited by virtue of this Act or any written law repealed by this Act.




23 -23. Repeals and transitional provisions.

(1) The Acts of the United Kingdom specified in Schedule (in so far as they have effect in Malaysia with or without modification) and the other written laws specified in that Schedule are hereby repealed.

(2) The repeals effected by sub-section (1) include the revocation of:-

(a) any Order in Council applying either of the Acts repealed by that sub-section to any territory comprised in Malaysia at the commencement of this Act; and

(b) all subsidiary legislation made under any written law so repealed.