Under the Copyright Act 2021, the creator is the default copyright owner and owns all commissioned work with the exception of employee-created works, ie, if an employee creates a work according to the terms of their employment contract in the course of employment, the employer will own the copyright by default. However, the parties can vary this default ownership position by written agreement. In the case of a journalist working for a newspaper or magazine, the owner of the newspaper or magazine owns the copyright of the publication in any newspaper or magazine but the employee owns the remaining rights that make up the copyright bundle of exclusive rights.
Copyright owners may transfer their rights to other parties either partially or wholly. They may also license their copyrights either partially or wholly. Future copyrights for a work that has yet to be produced can also be licensed. The license can be exclusive or non-exclusive.
In Singapore, there are collective management organizations (CMOs) which manage the rights of rightsholders in their copyright works. Such entities negotiate, grant and administer licenses on behalf of the rightsholders and also collect and distribute royalties. The Ministry of Law and the IPOS jointly conducted a public consultation from November 7, 2022 to January 4, 2023 to seek feedback on the draft Copyright (CMOs) Regulations (Draft Regulations) (to be made pursuant to Part 9 of the Copyright Act 2021), which establishes a mandatory class licensing system for CMOs. Once the proposed licensing scheme comes into effect, CMOs will be automatically licensed and must comply with all applicable license conditions set out in the Draft Regulations or face regulatory action or financial penalties.