Singapore legislation

Clause 135

Licence to produce and publish translations

(1)

Any person may apply to the Copyright Tribunal for a licence to produce and publish a translation of a literary or dramatic work which has been published in printed or analogous forms of reproduction in any of the official languages in use in Singapore.

(2)

An application under this section shall be made in such form as may be prescribed and shall state the proposed retail price of a copy of the translation of the work.

(3)

Every applicant for a licence under this section shall, along with his application, deposit with the Copyright Tribunal such fee as may be prescribed.

(4)

Where an application is made to the Copyright Tribunal under this section, it may, after holding such inquiry as may be prescribed, grant to the applicant a licence, not being an exclusive licence, to produce and publish a translation of the work in the language mentioned in the application subject to the condition that the applicant shall pay to the owner of the copyright in the work royalties in respect of copies of the translation of the work sold to the public, calculated at such rate as the Copyright Tribunal may, in the circumstances of each case, determine in the prescribed manner.

(5)

No licence shall be granted by the Copyright Tribunal under this section until the expiration of whichever the following periods is applicable:

(a)

one year from the date of first publication of the work where the application is for a licence for translation into any of the official languages of Singapore other than English;

(b)

three years from the date of first publication of the work where the application is for a licence for translation into English.

(6)

No licence shall be granted by the Copyright Tribunal unless —

(a)

the Tribunal is satisfied that no translation of the work into the language in question has been published in printed or analogous forms of reproduction, by or with the authorisation of the owner of the right of translation, or that all previous editions in that language are out of print;

(b)

the applicant has proved to the satisfaction of the Tribunal that he had requested and had been denied authorisation by the owner of the copyright to produce and publish such translation, or that he was, after due diligence on his part, unable to find such owner;

(c)

where the applicant was unable to find the owner of the copyright, he had sent a copy of his request for such authorisation to the publisher whose name appears from the work, not less than two months before the application for the licence;

(d)

the applicant had at the time he submitted an application under this section informed any national or international information centre designated for this purpose by the government of the country in which the publisher of the work to be translated is believed to have his principal place of business;

(e)

the Tribunal is satisfied that the applicant is competent to produce and publish a correct translation of the work and possesses the means to pay to the owner of the copyright the royalties payable to him under this section;

(f)

the author has not withdrawn from circulation copies of the work; and

(g)

an opportunity of being heard is given, wherever practicable, to the owner of the copyright in the work.