I REFER to the letter "S'pore-based website owners at a disadvantage" (ST, Dec 8) from Mr Ngiam Shih Tung.
Mr Ngiam is concerned that the Copyright (Amendment) Act 1999 will affect the competitiveness of the local online industry.
He argues that network service providers (NSPs) would more readily remove materials from websites upon complaints from purported copyright owners.
He favours a "put-back" provision in the new Act, along the lines of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The growth of the Internet has led to uncertainties about the liability of NSPs for copyright infringement.
NSPs will not know what measures to take to avoid liability. Additional costs would be incurred in taking extra precautionary measures.
The amended Act clarifies the legal liabilities of NSPs, so that NSPs know exactly what precautionary measures to take.
It results in cost savings and allows NSPs to compete more effectively.
Mr Ngiam is wrong that the Act encourages NSPs to remove materials more readily.
He quoted out of context a passage from the article "Who is to blame for Web sex?" (ST, Dec 5) to support this claim.
That passage goes against Mr Ngiam's point. make them more ready to pull out materials, thus reducing the value of the Internet as a medium for the free flow of information.
By this reasoning, the amended Copyright Act, in reducing the scope of NSP's legal liabilities, would reduce the tendency of NSPs to pull out materials.
Mr Ngiam is mistaken in assuming that the US DMCA type of "put-back" provision will require an NSP to restore the removed website material.
Under such "put-back" provision, the website owner does not have the right to insist on the removed materials being restored to the website.
All it does is to restore the contractual rights and obligations between the NSP and the website owner under their contract.
Such a provision will have little or no effect in practice, as it is usual for the contract between the NSP and the website owner to allow the NSP to remove materials at the NSP's discretion.
Since NSPs can rely on this contractual right, the "put-back" provision will not ensure the restoration of the removed materials.
The recent amendments to the copyright law are part of an ongoing effort to encourage the growth of a knowledge-based economy and to promote e-commerce and creative innovations. It is not the last word on the subject.
The Government will monitor closely how the new provisions work out in practice and, if necessary, will make further refinements to the law in light of experience gained.
PANG KHANG CHAU
Deputy Director
Ministry of Law
Originally published in the Straits Times, December 15, 1999.