Parliament amends and expands copyright law as needed, within the bounds of the Berne Convention.
There is no official copyright registration system in the UK. Copyright protection, just as in the US, is automatic. All you need is a work of sufficient originality fixed in a tangible medium.If you do have questions there is an Intellectual Property Office in the UK (see link below) and hey do have an extensive section on copyright.
In the UK, copyright is automatic as soon as the work is fixed. There is no formal registration.
Copyright is automatically assigned on creation of a work. There is no formal registration process. Copyright will belong to a company if a work is created by a person during company time and the course of their employment, otherwise the copyright automatically belongs to the person creating a work.
It doesn't cost anything. copyright protection, just as in the US is automatic.According to the UK Intellectual Property Office..."There is no official registration system for copyright in the United Kingdom (UK) and most other parts of the world. There are no forms to fill in and no fees to pay to get copyright protection."(see related link for the full text)
The current UK copyright law is the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended.
Contact the Home Office for current advice and legislation.
Most countries have a website for their copyright office, which will include this information. It tends to be rather difficult to find, however. For example, the UK Intellectual Property Office site doesn't mention it, but does have the full text of the Act. The Act doesn't include numbers, but says fines can be up to level 5, so you have to go to another piece of legislation to see what level 5 fines are.
The Health and Safety at Work Act is UK legislation intended to protect employees in the course of their work.
Copyright is defined by the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988 as amended, which is harmonized with the Berne Convention. It gives the creator of a work automatic exclusive rights to copy, alter, distribute, or perform/display the work, or authorize others to do so, for a limited time.
Because it does not include an examination process (as for patents), even a formal registration is not incontrovertible proof of copyright. The UK's IP office sums it up excellently:Note that neither registration nor sending a copy of the work to yourself show that you were the creator of the work. Keeping copies of all your drafts and any other material that shows your connection with the particular copyright material as you develop it could, however, be useful evidence if you ever have to prove that you are the author.
UK copyright laws have been in place since the early 1700's
Because it does not include an examination process (as for patents), even a formal registration is not incontrovertible proof of copyright. The UK's IP office sums it up excellently:Note that neither registration nor sending a copy of the work to yourself show that you were the creator of the work. Keeping copies of all your drafts and any other material that shows your connection with the particular copyright material as you develop it could, however, be useful evidence if you ever have to prove that you are the author.