ABSTRACT
This chapter is intended as a broad overview of copyright and data protection. Copyright and data protection are both about complying with the law but from the perspective of law librarians it is also about practical risk management. Copyright legislation in the UK has a long history: The ‘Statute of Anne’ of 1709 was the first Act of Parliament devoted to copyright. The main current piece of legislation is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. It has been amended numerous times and EU law has played an important and increasing role in shaping UK legislation and in developing case law. The creator of a copyright work is in general the first owner of the copyright, but in practice it is often transferred to others (sold, donated, bequeathed and so on) and is quite likely to belong to the publisher in many cases.
