Cultural and Creative Industries and Value Creation: An Analysis on Malaysian Copyright Laws

Abstract

The strategic and economic importance of cultural and creative industries that are supported by intellectual property laws has been duly acknowledged. They are instrumental to propel the growth of Malaysia during the 4th Industrial Revolution. The 12th Malaysian Plan (2021-2025) that was deliberated by the 9th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob in October 2021 has identified the creative industry as one of the strategic and high-impact industries for the country. The Malaysian government has also agreed in approving the intellectual property fund as one of the programs or main projects to be implemented in the 12th Malaysian Plan to improve the strategic industries. The aim of becoming a high-income nation has been envisioned much earlier with the establishment of Vision 2020 for Malaysia. This article aims to review copyright laws in Malaysia, with a focus on provisions pertaining to ownership and authorship of copyright, and dealings of copyright. The rationale for this approach is due to the fact that ownership, authorship, and dealing of copyright are essential for value creation at the individual and institutional levels, which then could translate to the success of the creative industries at the national level.