ABSTRACT
The notion of stealing ideas and inventions is not new, and neither is the concept of legislating to deter such behaviour and to protect the owners of such intellectual property. The advent of electronic information technology has introduced new complications into the issue, both in terms of the variety of forms in which ideas are manifested and in their rapid rate of change. The primary source for intellectual property considerations is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and its associated Statutory Instruments. However, the intellectual property problems posed by the spread of information technology and its increasing sophistication were finally recognised by the introduction of an amendment to the 1956 Act in 1985 which firmly established copyright for software. The users of a library and information service may be a more difficult group to supervise effectively where respect for intellectual property is concerned.
