#BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Copyright law
Limitations imposed by copyright
When you buy software, for example, copyright law forbids you from:
- giving a copy to a friend
- making a copy and then selling it
- using the software on a network [ network. a group of interconnected computers ] (unless the licence [ software licence. a legal agreement between the company who published the software and the end user covering areas such as copyright ] allows it)
- renting the software without the permission of the copyright holder
The law that governs copyright in the UK is called the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 .
Prevention of software piracy
Software companies take many steps to stop software piracy [ piracy. acquiring, profiting from, using or making changes to copyrighted material without prior permission ] :
- An agreement between the company that developed the software and the user must be agreed before the software is installed. This is called the license agreement and covers copyright.
- Certain pieces of software require a unique licence key to be entered before the installation will continue.
- Some applications or programs [ program. a list of instructions written in a programming language ] will only run if the media (CD [ Compact Disc (CD). used to store data, eg music CD ] / DVD [ Digital Versatile Disc (DVD). used to store data, eg a movie ] ) is in the drive.
- Some applications or programs will only run if a special piece of hardware [ hardware. the physical components of a computer ] called a dongle [ dongle. a small piece of hardware that connects to a computer, eg a USB memory stick ] is plugged into the back of the computer.
The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST)
FAST was founded in 1984 by the software [ software. a general term used to describe an application or a program ] industry and is now supported by over 1,200 companies. It is a not-for-profit organisation with an aim to prevent software piracy [ piracy. acquiring, profiting from, using or making changes to copyrighted material without prior permission ] and has a policy of prosecuting anyone found to be breaching copyright [ copyright. gives the creator of an original piece of work control over its publication, distribution and adaptation ] law.
FAST also works to educate the public about good software practice and legal requirements.