Information technology has challenged the traditional concept of copyright protection.
The Amendment Act, which amended the Copyright Act 1987, came into force on the 1st April 1999. This Act seeks to update the law on copyright.
Amongst other things, the Amendment Act makes unauthorized transmission of copyright works over the Internet an infringement of copyright.
The definition of a literary work now includes table or compilations "whether or not expressed in words, figures or symbols and whether or not in a visible form".
The owner of copyright in a work including a derivative work, will have the exclusive right to control "the transmission of a work through wire or wireless means to the public, including the making available of a work to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them".
It is also an infringement of copyright to circumvent any effective technological measures aimed at restricting access to works, removal or alteration of any electronic rights management information without authority, or distribution, importation for distribution or communication to the public, without authority, works or copies of works in respect of which electronic rights management information has been removed or altered without authority.".
These provisions are aimed at ensuring adequate protection of intellectual property rights for companies investing in the IT and multimedia environment.
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