Copyright (Copyright ©) – a symbol of copyright protection that arises as a result of creating an intellectual work.
The copyright protection symbol is used with the name of the individual or legal entity that holds the copyright. The object of copyright protection may also be specified. The year of publication or a range of dates is indicated.
The copyright protection symbol must include the following elements:
- The copyright protection symbol — the Latin letter “C” in a circle, ©. The © symbol has a decimal code of 169 in Unicode and a hexadecimal code of 00A9. To insert the symbol into the body of a page, any of the following mnemonics can be used:
© &xa9; ©
Also, in Windows, it can be entered using the numeric keypad by holding down the Alt key and typing the sequence 0, 1, 6, 9. - The name of the individual or the name of the legal entity that holds the copyright. The name of an individual is usually indicated in the form of a surname and initials, while the name of a legal entity is in the form established during its registration (the form of ownership is indicated as an abbreviation: LLC, JSC, etc.).
- If the protection covers not the main text but only its layout, translation, accompanying text, etc., the object of copyright protection should be specified. If the rights to the main text are protected, specifying the object of protection is not necessary.
- The year of first publication of the work. It is not necessary to supplement the date with the word “year” or the abbreviation “yr.”.
There is no need to place a period at the end of the copyright protection symbol.
Correct Formatting of Copyright
- © J. Smith, 2010
- © Smith J., 2010—2015
- © LLC “Content Rights Holder”, 2010—2015
- © Smith J., translation into English, 2010
- © 2010—2015 Content Rights Holder
Incorrect Formatting of Copyright
- © 2015
- 2010 © J. Smith
- J. Smith © 2010
- (c) Smith J., 2010-2015
- © LLC “Content Rights Holder”, 2010-2015.
- Copyright Smith J., 2010-2015
Which Year to Include in Copyright
Since materials on the website may be published at different times and in different years (and this usually happens), a range of dates can be used, for example, “2010—2019”.
Automatic Year Change in Copyright
To display the current year, a PHP script can be implemented, for example:
© 2019 J. Smith© <?php echo date('Y'); ?> J. Smith
© 2000-2019 J. Smith
© 2000-<?php echo date('Y'); ?> J. Smith
The downside of this method is that it creates an additional +1 request to the server each time the page is generated. Additionally, displaying the current year in the copyright imposes formal obligations to publish the author’s content in the current year.
Copyright and Content Theft
The copyright symbol itself does not protect against copying content but notifies others of your rights to that content.
According to the Universal Copyright Convention, copyright arises at the moment of the creation of the work, and additional registration is not required. The author has the right to use the copyright protection symbol to notify that copyright rights on the work are protected.
Placing a copyright does not create additional rights for the website owner, nor does its absence deprive the owner of material of copyright protection.
SEO Specialist Tip: The fact of placing the copyright symbol on the website does not affect SEO promotion, but the copyrighted content accompanied by this symbol can be a significant factor for successful ranking. To counteract the illegal use of copyrighted content on Google, use the DMCA complaint tool — if successfully considered, plagiarism will be removed from Google’s index.
