Section 58 — Matters to be considered or ignored for publication, first publication, and publication before death

(1)In this section, “relevant material” means —

(a)an authorial work;

(b)an edition of an authorial work;

(c)a sound recording;

(d)a film; or

(e)a recording of a protected performance.

(2)If a publication of a relevant material is merely colourable and is not intended to satisfy the reasonable requirements of the public —

(a)the publication must be ignored for the purposes of this Act; but

(b)the publication may be considered to the extent that it may be a rights infringement or an infringement of a moral right under Division 1 or 2 of Part 7.

(3)A publication of a relevant material in Singapore or elsewhere is still the first publication if the publication and every earlier publication take place within a period of 30 days.

(4)An unauthorised act must be ignored in deciding —

(a)whether any relevant material is published;

(b)whether a publication of any relevant material is the first publication of that material; or

(c)whether any relevant material is published in the lifetime of a person.

(5)Subject to section 230(3) (publication of old works deemed to be authorised), an act is unauthorised for the purposes of subsection (4) only if —

(a)where the relevant material is a work —

(i)copyright subsists in the work and the act is not done by or with the licence of the copyright owner; or

(ii)copyright does not subsist in the work and the act is not done by or with the licence of —(A) the author of the authorial work; (B) the publisher of the edition; (C) the maker of the sound recording or film; or (D) any person lawfully claiming under the author, publisher or maker, as the case may be; and

(b)where the relevant material is a recording of a protected performance — the act was not done with the authority of the rights owner of the performance.

(6)Subsections (4) and (5) do not affect —

(a)any provision of this Act relating to —

(i)the acts comprised in a copyright; or

(ii)acts constituting rights infringements; or

(b)Divisions 1 and 2 of Part 7 (moral rights).