In Parliament yesterday, the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act went through its second reading without any objections. It is likely to be passed today.
Senior Minister of State for Law, Indranee Rajah, explained that the changes are designed to allow copyright owners to more easily protect their copyrights online.
She explained that online piracy is prevalent in Singapore and this has negative impacts on both the creative industry and Singapore's reputation.
The main change in the proposed amendment will give power the copyright holders to apply for court orders to get infringing websites blocked.
This will simplify the process as currently, copyright owners had to approach each individual internet service provider in order to try and get access to the unauthorised copies blocked by each ISP.