intellectual property
Copyright
Copyright is the right to prevent copying of original literacy, artistic and musical works. Copyright arises automatically whenever such a work is created, and does not require any registration. 'Original' means that the work is the creation of its author, not being copied from any other work.
Copyright protection normally lasts for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years, although there are some exceptions.
Computer software is protected by Copyright law by being treated as a literary work. Technical materials such as instruction manuals and engineering drawings are also protected as literary or artistic works. It should be noted that these forms of protection are only against direct copying and do not prevent a competitor achieving the same technical effect by independent work.
NB: to prove someone has directly copied your software programme, include some false programming lines. The BT phone books include at least one false telephone number on each page ? to easily identify copyright infringement.
It is a good idea for you to mark your copyright work with the copyright symbol © followed by your name and the date, to warn others against copying it, and to inform them who they should contact for permission, but it is not legally necessary in the UK.
To prove date of authorship send a copy of your work to yourself by special delivery (which gives a clear date stamp on the envelope), leaving the envelope unopened on its return; this could establish that the work existed at this time.