An intellectual property right which seeks to protect the form of expression of ideas, and not the ideas as such (which may be protected by confidentiality). It is intended to reward authors for the creation of original works, that is, works where the author has expended independent effort to create the work. Copyright law is intended to prevent copying but does not provide a monopoly; it does not matter if a similar or identical work already exists provided it has not been copied. It lasts for a set period, most often the life of the author plus 70 years from the end of the calendar year of his death. No formalities need to be observed in the UK for a work to receive copyright protection. Protection in the UK automatically applies to all works recorded in any form provided that they conform to certain requirements.