Overview
The Copyright (Amendment) Act 1997 was the fifth and final piece of cyber legislation enacted under the MSC Malaysia initiative — amending the Copyright Act 1987 (Act 332) to extend copyright protection to digital works and address the new forms of infringement that the internet and multimedia technologies had made possible.
Prior to the 1997 amendment, Malaysia's copyright law was designed for an analogue world — it protected literary works, artistic works, films, and sound recordings, but did not adequately address software, multimedia works, online transmission, or the digital reproduction of copyrighted content. The amendment remedied these gaps, bringing Malaysian copyright law into alignment with emerging international standards and providing the intellectual property certainty that technology companies required before investing in the MSC.
Completing the MSC Cyber Law Package
The Copyright (Amendment) Act 1997 was the final piece of the MSC Malaysia cyber law jigsaw — joining the Computer Crimes Act, Digital Signature Act, Telemedicine Act, and Communications and Multimedia Act to create a comprehensive digital legal framework. Together, these five laws fulfilled the MSC Malaysia Bill of Guarantees commitment to establishing Malaysia as a regional leader in cyber laws and intellectual property protection.
What the Amendment Added
The 1997 amendment made several significant changes to the Copyright Act 1987 — each responding to a specific gap exposed by the emergence of digital technology and the internet.
Express Protection for Digital Works
The amendment clarified that copyright protection extends to works in digital form — including works stored on computer hard drives, optical discs, flash memory, and transmitted over networks. This removed any ambiguity about whether digitised versions of copyrighted works enjoyed the same protection as their physical counterparts.
Computer Software as Literary Works
Computer programs were expressly classified as literary works under the amended Act — giving software the full protection of copyright law including the exclusive rights of reproduction, communication to the public, and adaptation. This was critical for MSC Malaysia's software industry, which needed clear legal protection for its core product.
Multimedia Works
The amendment introduced protection for multimedia works — works that combine text, audio, video, images, and interactive elements in a single digital product. This was directly relevant to MSC Malaysia's creative content industry and the digital products being developed by CMC-supported companies.
Communication to the Public via Networks
A new exclusive right was created — the right to communicate a work to the public, including via the internet and other electronic networks. This gave copyright owners control over online distribution of their works and established the legal basis for prosecuting online piracy.
Technological Protection Measures
The amendment introduced protection for technological protection measures (TPMs) — the digital locks that copyright owners use to control access to and copying of their works. Circumventing a TPM without authorisation was made a copyright infringement, providing legal backing for DRM systems.
Enhanced Penalties for Digital Piracy
Penalties for copyright infringement were enhanced — with specific provisions targeting large-scale digital piracy, commercial-scale infringement, and the manufacture and distribution of devices designed to circumvent technological protection measures.
Works Protected Under Malaysian Copyright Law
As amended in 1997 and subsequently, the Copyright Act 1987 protects the following categories of works — with the 1997 amendment specifically strengthening protection for digital versions of each category:
Literary Works
Including computer programs and software source code
Artistic Works
Including digital art, graphic design, and illustrations
Musical Works
Including digital music files and compositions
Films
Including digital video and multimedia productions
Sound Recordings
Including digital audio recordings and streams
Multimedia Works
Interactive digital works combining multiple media types
Duration of Copyright Protection
Under the Copyright Act 1987 as amended, copyright in literary, musical, and artistic works subsists for the life of the author plus 50 years. For works of joint authorship, the 50-year period runs from the death of the last surviving author. For films and sound recordings, copyright subsists for 50 years from the date of publication or making of the work.
Computer programs enjoy the same duration of protection as literary works — life of the author plus 50 years — reflecting their classification as literary works under the amended Act.
The Amendment in the MSC Malaysia Context
For MSC Malaysia, the Copyright (Amendment) Act 1997 was essential to two flagship applications in particular. For the Borderless Marketing / BPO flagship, clear digital copyright protection reassured multinational companies that their intellectual property would be protected when they established shared services and content operations in Malaysia. For the R&D Cluster flagship, it protected the software and multimedia outputs of research and development activity in the corridor.
The amendment also provided the legal foundation for Malaysia's digital creative content industry — supported through the Creative Multimedia Centre (CMC) — by ensuring that animation, game, and interactive media companies had robust copyright protection for their digital output.
MSC Malaysia Bill of Guarantees — IP Protection Commitment
The Copyright (Amendment) Act 1997 was a direct fulfilment of MSC Malaysia's Bill of Guarantees commitment to becoming a regional leader in intellectual property protection. By extending copyright to digital works before most other countries in the region had done so, Malaysia demonstrated to global technology and content companies that their IP would be secure in the MSC — a key competitive differentiator in attracting investment to the corridor.
Subsequent Amendments
The Copyright Act 1987 has been amended several times since 1997 — with the Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012 being a particularly significant update that further strengthened enforcement provisions and aligned Malaysian law more closely with the WIPO Copyright Treaty. The Trade Marks Act 1976 was similarly updated — replaced entirely by the Trademarks Act 2019 — reflecting the ongoing evolution of Malaysia's intellectual property framework beyond the original MSC Malaysia cyber law package.
Current Administration
Copyright in Malaysia is administered by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) under the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living. For current copyright registration, enforcement information, and the authoritative text of the Copyright Act 1987 as amended, visit myipo.gov.my.