Bill, Apr 7, 2014, Proposed Amendments to Revise the Copyright Act to empower the courts to make site blocking orders

The Singapore Ministry of Law is proposing legislative amendments to allow right holders to apply directly to the courts for injunctions against Internet Service Providers to prevent users from accessing the so-called “pirate sites” without having to first establish ISPs’ liability for copyright infringement. The so-called “pirated sites”, known in the proposal as “egregious online locations”, are to be assessed by the courts based on certain non-exhaustive factors, including (1) whether the online location’s primary purpose is to commit or facilitate copyright infringement, (2) whether it makes available or contains directories, indexes or categories of the “means to commit copyright infringement”, (3) whether the owner of the location “demonstrates a disregard for copyright”, (4) whether the location has been disabled by court orders from other countries on grounds of copyright infringement, (5) whether the location contains guides or instructions on circumventing measures to disable access to the location, and (6) the number of visitors to the online location. It is proposed that the injunction be permanent, although site owners, ISPs or right holders can apply to the courts to overturn the injunction. It is also proposed that applicants to an existing injunction can more easily apply for another injunction or vary the original injunction in relation to the location that has assumed a different IP address or URL.