Cutting off the stream: Upcoming laws will ban sale of streaming boxes
New laws will be tabled in Parliament some time this year to ban the sale of media streaming boxes with "add-on" services that help consumers to access pirated content.
This clarity comes on the heels of a three-year review of Singapore's copyright laws by the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.
The legality of media streaming boxes has been a grey and contentious area as copyright holders have found it difficult to resort to many of the usual legal avenues created in the DVD era against set-top box retailers that benefit from the sale of add-on services.
"We are of the view that legislative amendments are needed to both clarify our policy position and the actions that can be taken against retailers of such set-top boxes," MinLaw said in its Copyright Review Report issued yesterday.
"The measures, which are absent today, will make clear that acts such as the import and sale of such devices are prohibited," the ministry said in a separate statement.
The new laws will impose civil and criminal liability on people who wilfully distribute or sell a product that can be used to access pirated content if the product is designed for such access or advertised as such.
The selling of a generic device with add-on services - such as supplying website links or subscription services to pirated content - will also be illegal.
But the new rules will not require retailers of general devices to be responsible for how purchasers set up the devices and use them.
Technology lawyer Koh Chia Ling of OC Queen Street said that consumers are not the target of the proposed changes.
"If streaming involves the making of an infringing copy by the consumer, then the consumer infringes copyright. However, it is not clear whether streaming involves making a copy at all times or at all," he said.
In April, the courts will hear a criminal case against trading company An-Nahl for "wilfully" infringing copyright, including that of telcos StarHub and Singtel as well as the Premier League, by helping people to access pirated content using streaming boxes it was selling.
A date to hear the case against retail firm Synnex Trading over a similar infringement has yet to be fixed.
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