Societies have argued various reasons for the protection of intellectual property rights. Elaborate on these arguments. Which argument(s) do you think Singapore has adopted in its protection of intellectual property rights? Provide reasons and examples in support of your views.

Alyssa was employed by Big Money Pte. Ltd. (“Big Money”) as a human resource manager, to take care of the onboarding and training of new employees at Big Money. Alyssa takes a particular interest in writing. During her free time, she would write novels. One day, she was challenged by her friends to publish an all-new novel within two months. Unexpectedly, Big Money started expanding and was hiring furiously.

Alyssa was swamped at work and did not have much free time to write. To maintain her reputation and win the challenge, Alyssa recalled that she had, years ago in school, read this novel which was written by Charisse, her junior in school. At that time, Charisse had sent the novel to Alyssa for her reading, as Charisse was seeking to obtain feedback for the novel prior to publishing it. The novel was later published over the Internet by Charisse. However, the reception was not good.

Since not many people have read it, Alyssa decided to take the novel, make minor and inconsequential amendments, and post it online as hers. Charisse was made aware of this and came to you for advice. Advise her on whether she has a good copyright infringement case against Alyssa, Big Money, or both, and explain why.

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