“The first copyright law in Britain was the Statute of Queen Anne in 1709” but the current law is covered by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which replaced the Copyright Act 1956. It is design to protect the rights of creative people such as writers, musicians, and artists. Copyright does apply to computer software which is also covered by a license agreement, unless it is genuine share ware.
Copyright covers the life of the creator and a period up to 70 years after his/her death.
This law is extremely difficult to enforce with today’s technology but at least use of the © symbol signifies that the owner is aware of their rights.
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