Is pirate software illegal in Singapore?

[Strong Eagle]

Snake, yes, theft refers to corporeal property. But, you have neglected to note that copyright violation is a punishable offense in Singapore. So, you might not get a 'theft' conviction but you sure can get a copyright violation conviction.

PS: Software physically exists on the media to which it has been encoded. You don't load Office out of thin air, you load it from a physical copy of the software.

So, technically, not described under the theft statutes but nonetheless has criminally penalties and is treated as a theft.

Copyright Act (Chapter 63)

Offences
136. —(1) A person who at a time when copyright subsists in a work —

(a) makes for sale or hire;

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

(c) by way of trade exhibits in public,

any article which he knows, or ought reasonably to know, to be an infringing copy of the work shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 for the article or for each article in respect of which the offence was committed or $100,000, whichever is the lower, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.
[6/98]

(2) A person who at a time when copyright subsists in a work has in his possession or imports into Singapore any article which he knows, or ought reasonably to know, to be an infringing copy of the work for the purpose of —

(a) selling, letting for hire, or by way of trade offering or exposing for sale or hire, the article;

(b) distributing the article for the purpose of trade, or for any other purpose to an extent that will affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright in the work; or

(c) by way of trade exhibiting the article in public,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 for the article or for each article in respect of which the offence was committed or $100,000, whichever is the lower, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.
[6/98]

(3) Any person who, at a time when copyright subsists in a work, distributes, either —

(a) for purposes of trade; or

(b) for other purposes, but to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright,

articles which he knows, or ought reasonably to know, to be infringing copies of the work, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.

(3A) Where, at any time when copyright subsists in a work —

(a) a person does any act that constitutes an infringement of the copyright in a work other than an act referred to in subsection (1), (2), (3) or (6);

(b) the infringement of the copyright in the work by the person is wilful; and

(c) either or both of the following apply:

(i) the extent of the infringement is significant;

(ii) the person does the act to obtain a commercial advantage,

the person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both and, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.
[52/2004]

(4) A person who, at a time when copyright subsists in a work, makes or has in his possession an article specifically designed or adapted for making copies of the work that the person knows, or ought reasonably to know, is to be used for making infringing copies of the work, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 for each such article in respect of which the offence is committed or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.
[6/98]

(5) Subsections (1) to (4) shall apply in relation to copyright subsisting in any subject-matter by virtue of Part IV in like manner as they apply in relation to copyright subsisting in a work by virtue of Part III.

(6) Any person who for his private profit causes a literary, dramatic or musical work to be performed in public, or causes a cinematograph film to be seen or heard or seen and heard in public, other than by the reception of a television broadcast or cable programme, where he knows, or ought reasonably to know, that copyright subsists in the work or cinematograph film and that the performance constitutes an infringement of the copyright, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.

(6A) For the purposes of subsection (3A) (c) (i), in determining whether the extent of the infringement is significant, the court shall have regard to —

(a) the volume of any articles that are infringing copies;

(b) the value of any articles that are infringing copies;

(c) whether the infringement has a substantial prejudicial impact on the owner of the copyright; and

(d) all other relevant matters.
[52/2004]

(6B) For the purposes of subsection (3A) (c) (ii), a person does an act for the purpose of obtaining a commercial advantage if the act is done to obtain a direct advantage, benefit or financial gain for a business or trade carried on by him.
[52/2004]

(7) For the purposes of this section (other than subsection (3A)), any person who has in his possession 5 or more infringing copies of any work or other subject-matter shall, unless the contrary is proved, be presumed —

(a) to be in possession of such copies otherwise than for private and domestic use; or

(b) to be in possession of such copies for the purpose of sale.

[road.not.taken]

Is pirate software illegal in Singapore?

Pirate software, that being software about pirates is quite legal. Pirated software, that is software illegal copied and bought is NOT.

Hi I am planning to relocate to SG next month. I am bringing my laptop with me. But there are lot of pirate softwares which I illegally installed (Even the OS). Is it illegal to use pirate s/w in SG like it is everywhere else? If so and if I bring my laptop with pirate s/w, can i use it without connecting to internet (off line)? Please tell me a solution I won't buy Licensed software at the moment )

Thanks!

So you'd like us to suggest ways for you to dodge the law? I don't think so...

[durain]

Pirates of the Caribbean from original source is legal, Pirates of the Caribbean from ah beng in HDB void desk copied into CD is illegal!

[pakjohn]

PS - Breathing is good. Nice deep breaths, followed by the occassional giggle when I read your posts. Thanks for asking.

lol!

[rattlesnake]

Snake, yes, theft refers to corporeal property. But, you have neglected to note that copyright violation is a punishable offense in Singapore. So, you might not get a 'theft' conviction but you sure can get a copyright violation conviction.

Did you actually read my posts? I already said that. Phew - I hope you used cut and past and didn't type all that.

Nice to see you have come around.

Now we're on first names, can I call you Eagle?

[Strong Eagle]

Now we're on first names, can I call you Eagle?

Call me Strong.

Look... I know where you have been coming from. It is sophist semantics to say that downloading unpaid for software is not theft. It is not theft of corporeal property but it is theft of IP... and there are penalties for that.

Having said that, MS and the software piracy association morons are gong to have to change their tune before they ever get my support. For example:

a) F*ck the people that say I need three different paid downloads of software/music/videos to run on three different devices. I buy your IP, you should not have the right to dictate how I use it as long as it is personal. Apple were the original jerkwads in this game... good to see them back off.

b) F*ck the people that ever came up with region coding and other nonsensical copy protection schemes. I have CD's, DVD's from all over the world. I paid for legitimate copies and I PROUDLY announce that all my playback devices override this nonsense.

c) There needs to be a standard policy for software evaluation. It's getting better but... I must say that if I download a full feature piece of software, only decide that its crap, and to be deleted from from hard drive, how is this piracy... even if taken from a warez site? More reasonably, the software morons want me to buy the cow without knowing if it produces milk and they can FOAD.

Nonetheless, anything that IS running on my computers (or those of my company) is fully licensed.

Cheers.

[rattlesnake]

Now we're on first names, can I call you Eagle?

Call me Strong.

Look... I know where you have been coming from. It is sophist semantics to say that downloading unpaid for software is not theft. It is not theft of corporeal property but it is theft of IP... and there are penalties for that.

Sorry - still not going to agree, but lets agree to disagree. My position is that using someones technology is wrong and obviously illegal. That said, most people couldn't give a stuff about it.

Governments try and legislate against it but the reality is no-one really polices it. In combatting the problem, advertisers try and use public relations by simplifying the problem i.e. software piracy is theft. It really is a theft along the lines of "hey, you stole my idea" but is not a legal theft. You are right, people use the term theft of IP but although it is called that in layspeak it is more accurate to say misuse of IP or unauthorised use of IP.

You can say this is semantics, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, if misuse of IP is theft then almost all of us are criminals because at least in some part of our lives we either misuse or have misused someone elses IP at some point (in the form of software, music, movies, tv shows or fake consumer goods). Maybe you're one of the 1% who has never crossed that line.

I fully agree regarding software developers releasing beta versions to market and having us pay big bucks to test their product (your point c). If I buy a toaster and it doesn't work properly I can taken it back and get a refund. Pity the same doesn't apply to software.

Cheers

[Plavt]

Here Rattlesnake read this;


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8003799.stm

[rattlesnake]

Here Rattlesnake read this;


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8003799.stm

Interesting read which also reflects the position I have been putting in this thread all along.

Wrong = yes
Breach of Copyright = yes
Theft = no

Have a read of this - http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/ ... 004,00.htm

and this

http://www.hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?id=4413&cid=5

[NarDd]

you don't say it no one will know. not like i support it but you chances of you being caught well.. quite slim as they would not check your laptops I guess.
Just don't bring in pirated cds

[berada]

Hi I am planning to relocate to SG next month. I am bringing my laptop with me. But there are lot of pirate softwares installed (Even the OS). Is it illegal to use pirate s/w in SG? If so and if I bring my laptop with pirate s/w, can i use it without connecting to internet (off line)? Please tell me a solution (I can't buy Licensed software at the moment )

Thanks!

Keep it to yourself.
;x

[NarDd]

XD

[Pripps]

(I can't buy Licensed software at the moment )

??

Of course it is illegal here just like in any other country. That said, it is very unlikely that someone in customs would look in your notebook. I have lived here 6 years and it has never happened even though I fly often.

The reason for this is probably because there are so many ways to hide/encrypt software on the hard drive and even if they found a particular piece of software it is cumbersome to figure out if it is illegal or not e.g. when you buy something you may get an email with the license key, who is to say you always bring that wherever you go?

Personally I buy all my software because I like being able to patch them and get proper support whenever there is something wrong. Also I find that the companies/individuals who have spent time and money to do the programs should get paid if the particular software helps me.

Music is another matter, here I am a bit more flexible but there are so many sites that offer free streaming of music that downloading files is not really necessary.

[finetune]

Tricky question.... Of course it's illegal, the same way chewing gum is illegal here. However the police doesn't arrest someone who's chewing gum on the street.

[Dealer]

So where is it legal?

Same place murder and rape is.