Copyright is a right which exists without any specific steps having to be taken. It applies whenever a work is created containing original labour or. Its application include anything in writing -- including e-mail, as was recently confirmed by the .

In this case, a roofing slate company sent an e-mail to another company in the course of a disagreement about the standard of roofing slates that had been supplied. When the 2nd company sent on that e-mail on to the roofing contractor (the defendant in case), the roofing slate company claimed the letter involved a substantial degree of independent labour and by its writer and as a result was therefore entitled to protection under copyright. The High Court ruled in their favour

The moral of this particular case is to think before forwarding something by e-mail – by doing so you might just find yourself in breach of  the author’s copyright .