The Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (COMPASS) has successfully mounted a rare private prosecution against Slim Entertainment, the company behind Catwalk KTV at Textile Centre, for playing songs by Jay Chou and JJ Lin without a proper licence.
After months of unanswered letters, two COMPASS licensing officers — Claire Lee and Gerald Ng — took matters into their own hands. They booked a karaoke room like ordinary customers and sang copyrighted tracks while recording the session as evidence.
Their investigation showed that Catwalk had used 20 unlicensed songs (10 musical compositions and 10 sets of lyrics), breaching the Copyright Act. Despite being served with notices, Slim Entertainment repeatedly failed to respond or appear in court.
During the hearing, the presiding judge found the company guilty on all charges, ruling that COMPASS had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The nightclub now faces fines of up to S$40,000 per charge, with sentencing adjourned to December 2025.
COMPASS said it took this step reluctantly but necessarily, to protect the royalties owed to music creators. Gerald Ng emphasised that “when outlets refuse to comply, we must act to defend the rights of composers and lyricists.”
In a modern twist, enforcement officers had to “sing for justice” — proving that copyright protection in Singapore sometimes requires hitting the right note in more ways than one.
