Copyright,+Designs+and+Patents+Act

This copyright law applies to software, music, film, pictures or books, etc, so this is actually a very large and complex act.


 * There are three methods of licensing software and slightly different copyright laws apply to each:**
 * Software can be legally bought and installed on as many computers as the licence permits.
 * Shareware can be legally installed for 30 days usually after which time a payment should be made to the author or the software should be taken of the computer.
 * Freeware is similar to shareware except that there is no need to pay, it can be downloaded and installed free of charge.

It is illegal to copy any published material without either the permission of the copyright holder or the purchase of a licence that allows copying. It is also illegal for you to copy anybody else's work without permission. It can count as plagiarism to copy material directly from the internet and try to pass it off as your own original work.

In regards to music and film, the downloading and/or copying of these are illegal. Without the official purchase of the original music or film files, it is considered against the law.