It became statutory with the passing of the Copyright Act 1911. The current act is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Copyright law gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and typographical arrangement of published editions rights to control the ways in which their material may be used. In many cases, the creator will also have the right to be identified as the author and to object to distortions and mutilations of his work. International conventions give UK copyright protection in most countries, subject to national laws.
Interpretation is related to the independent creation rather than the idea behind the creation.
For example, copyright will not exist in names, colours or ideas, but will exist in a work composed of these elements. In short, copyright may protect a work that expresses an idea but not the idea behind it. Normally the individual or collective who authored the work will exclusively own the copyright. Copyright does not subsist in any part of a work which is a copy taken from a previous work. For example, in a piece of music featuring samples from a previous work, the copyright of the samples would still remain the property of the original author.