Comments on: Copyright Notice: Is the Year Really Necessary?

By: Sasha

Sasha — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 10:49:23 +0000

Dave is right, that’s absurd. Your copyright is effective with or without the copyright statement, so a typo in the statement does not void your copyright on the work.

By: matthk

matthk — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:46:47 +0000

Um, no they can’t James. I’ve been involved with copyright and IP for almost 16 years and you’re quite wrong here.

By: matthk

matthk — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:45:43 +0000

It doesn’t matter what year is on the page or work. The year only serves as an indicator of when the work was created. (and as one poster remarked, helps with marketing). It has NO legal bearing.
WHoever wrote “…If the year is wrong, and past the actual year, then the copyright is invalid…” has no idea what they’re talking about. You don’t HAVE to have a year NOR a © symbol on ANY work or website. Copyright is automatic. I could put copyright 3027.3 if I WANTED and it would have no legal bearing whatsoever. It may howver imply I was completly bonkers.

By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:09:50 +0000

This excerpt should clear things up.

From the US Copyright Office’s “Circular 3″:

Omission of Notice
Omission of notice means publishing without a notice. In
addition, some errors are considered the same as omission of
notice. These are:
• A notice that does not contain the symbol © (the letter
C in a circle); the word “Copyright”; the abbreviation
“Copr.”; or, if the work is a sound recording, the symbol π
(the letter P in a circle)
• A notice dated more than one year later than the date of
first publication
• A notice without a name or date that could reasonably be
considered part of the notice
• A notice that lacks the statement required for works consisting
preponderantly of U. S. government material
• A notice located so that it does not give reasonable notice
of the claim of copyright

The omission of notice does not affect copyright protection,
and no corrective steps are required if the work was
published on or after March 1, 1989.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 12 May 2010 08:10:39 +0000

[...] sure if this helps, but worth a read: Copyright Notice: Is the Year Really Necessary?—contentious.com Blog/Website: http://www.kenreynoldsdesign.co.uk Follow me on twitter: [...]

By: Joey

Joey — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:41:49 +0000

If the copyright year is wrong, like the one for this says, “© 2007 contentious.com” just quoting, please don’t sue me.. well, it’s pretty much invalid I think. I love how Copyrights have a date to it.. well, a year but still a date.. (I’m such a moron) because I can know.. for example, a video game has “Copyright 2002″ on it. That lets me know what year it was made, so I can be astounded in 2009 and go all, “Wow, 2002.”

By: Rigan

Rigan — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:51:08 +0000

Hi,

I have a website created when it was 2007.we update the site after few days regularly.

So, should I update the copyright year when new new year comes?

Rigan.

By: james

james — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:04:56 +0000

sure they can dave. for your copyright, if the the year is wrong, would be invalid.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:14:01 +0000

“if the real year was 2007 but you wrote 2008, then the copyright is invalid. Anyone can walk off with your material”

That’s absurd and entirely incorrect. No one can “walk off with your material” just because you mis-type the year in your copyright notice.

By: james rappai

james rappai — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:20:23 +0000

Important point to note: If the year is wrong, and past the actual year, then the copyright is invalid. If it is before, it is okay. Meaning, if the real year was 2007 but you wrote 2008, then the copyright is invalid. Anyone can walk off with your material. If you wrote 2006 instead of 2007, then it is okay. The copyright is valid.