Searching for copyright's Holy Grail

This week's appearance of Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown in the High Court on plagiarism allegations promises to be one of the court cases of the year. It also offers valuable copyright lessons for company bosses, says lawyer Lee Fisher, intellectual property partner at Morgan Cole Solicitors. Best-selling author Dan Brown's appearance in the High Court on allegations of plagiarism - and the potential of Prince Charles being cross-examined about the contents of his journals - has put copyright law on the front pages in recent weeks. These cases should prompt companies to look at the information they are putting into the public domain. Especially anything on a website. Copyright has been protected in the UK since the statute of Anne in 1709, although the current law was more recently encoded in the Copyright Design and Patent Act 1988. It gives protection for literary, artistic and dramatic works. [More]