MalaysiaCopyright Act 1987, fair dealing exception for reporting of news or current events
Copyright Act 1987 (Act 332), s. 13(2)(a), Reporting of News or Current Events Exception
In force since .
A snippet reproduction rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
What it requires
- You may reproduce, communicate to the public or otherwise use a work by way of fair dealing for research, private study, criticism, review, or the reporting of news or current events, if you acknowledge the title and authorship of the work (s. 13(2)(a)).
- You need not acknowledge the work where news or current events are reported by sound recording, film or broadcast.
- Judge fairness by the purpose and character of the dealing (including whether it is commercial), the nature of the work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used, and the effect on the potential market for the work (s. 13(2A)); the statute sets no headline-length or short-extract cap.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
In the frameworks
- NIST AI RMF
- MAP 4.1Approaches for mapping AI technology and legal risks of its components – including the use of third-party data or software – are in place, followed, and documented, as are risks of infringement of a third party’s intellectual property or other rights.
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
What this law does
Section 13(2)(a) excuses from the exclusive rights in section 13(1) any reproduction, communication to the public, or other controlled act done by way of fair dealing for the purposes of research, private study, criticism, review, or the reporting of news or current events, provided the title and authorship of the work are acknowledged, except that no acknowledgment is required for news or current events reported by sound recording, film, or broadcast.
Section 13(2A), added by the Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012 (Act A1420, in force ), directs that fairness turns on the purpose and character of the dealing (including whether it is commercial), the nature of the work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used, and the effect on the potential market for the work; the exception is not capped at a headline-length or short-extract threshold in the statute's own text, and no reported Malaysian decision applying it to a systematic news aggregator's reproduction of headlines and snippets, as distinct from a traditional press review, was located.
The Act carries no separate exclusion of the news of the day or of mere facts, and Malaysia has no press-publisher neighbouring right, compelled platform-to-publisher bargaining regime, recognised hot-news or misappropriation doctrine, or located case law on hyperlinking or framed display.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app reuses other publishers' content.
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