President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has today ratified the amendment to the Copyright and Related Rights Act to ensure copyright-related rights.

This bill was passed at the 56th session of the 20th People's Majlis held on the 2nd of this month.

The purpose of this amendment is to further detail matters related to copyrighted works and other copyright-related rights, to include exceptions for persons with disabilities, to determine additional circumstances under which copyrighted works can be copied or used including exceptions for non-commercial research purposes, to extend the duration of copyright protection from 50 years to 70 years, and to make necessary amendments to address some difficulties in enforcing copyright-related rights and implementing the law.

Upon implementation of this amendment, the law states that literary and artistic works, performances, sound recordings, and broadcasts produced within the Maldivian territory will be protected. The law also states that a work is protected under this law not because of the way it is presented or due to something included in the work or based on its quality or purpose, but because the work was created.

Furthermore, under this amendment, if any right protected under it is infringed upon by any party or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that any party is attempting to infringe upon such a right, the law states that the copyright owner has the right to file a lawsuit in a relevant court to protect and safeguard that right.

Following the President's ratification of this amendment, the law has been published in the Government Gazette today. This law will come into effect three months from the date of its ratification and publication in the Government Gazette.

According to this amendment, if a party intentionally or negligently infringes upon the rights of the copyright owner, depending on the severity of the act, they may be ordered to pay damages between MVR 10,000 and MVR 100,000 as punishment.

Additionally, the amendment includes provisions for criminal penalties for intentionally infringing upon rights protected under the law, with fines ranging from MVR 50,000 to MVR 300,000, depending on the severity of the infringement.