SINGAPORE - Copyright laws in future may be "completely unrecognisable" from what you see today, noted a High Court judge who has spelt out the grounds of judgment for a case involving RecordTV and MediaCorp.

Beyond explaining why the case was awarded to the broadcaster, Justice Andrew Ang dwelt on how technology - like the evolution of recording systems such as video cassette recorders, digital video recorders and online-based services like RecordTV's - had given rise to "enforceability issues".

But while in time, he was sure copyright law would be totally reformed, for now a "fixation on the technical aspect of things" seems a "sure recipe for disaster", the judge said.

Taking the unusual step of citing a blogger - American netizen William Patry, who had commented in 2007 on a case involving Twentieth Century Fox and Cablevisions Systems - Justice Ang noted also that online commentators have also written about the tendency of the courts to "focus on the wrong end of matters in the digital age".

As technology advances, and consumers are more able to consume media in different ways, Justice Ang said "it cannot be that copyright law would have thieves of us all".

Reformation of copyright laws to "reflect a wide array of societal interests in the digital revolution" will be a challenge to lawmakers, the industry and the public for some time to come, he said.

But the judge gave examples of how legal principles - or "straightforward, immutable maxims" - can still guide judgments.

"It is permissible to time-shift (viewing of broadcasts through recordings). It is not permissible to copy for profit. It is permissible to copy extracts for educational purposes. It is not permissible to authorise another to copy when one does not possess that authority," he wrote in his 36-page judgment.

Stating his reasons for allowing a counter claim of copyright infringement by MediaCorp against Internet start-up RecordTV, he said he found RecordTV not liable for making infringing copies of the MediaCorp Broadcasts and Films, but found it liable for authorising the making of copies by its customers.

"It is not permissible to copy for profit," he wrote. "It is not permissible to authorise another to copy when one does not possess that authority."

In 2007, RecordTV - which provides an online facility to record television broadcasts - had sued MediaCorp for millions of dollars for what it called "groundless threats" of copyright infringement.

This was after MediaCorp sent two "cease and desist" letters to the company which "stated the consequences" of alleged copyright infringements.

After RecordTV filed its suit, MediaCorp counter-sued. Following a five-day hearing, RecordTV was ruled to have breached copyright laws by allowing users to record free-to-air programmes shown on MediaCorp's Channel 5, Channel 8 and Channel NewsAsia.