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Copyright notice in source code

         

neophyte

1:52 am on May 5, 2012 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hello All -

I've been asked by my client to incorporate a copyright notice at the top of the source code of every page of his site. No problem technically, but am wondering if anyone has any generic copyright text they can share or point me to that I can use as boilerplate.

Here's one from Adobe - maybe this is good enough to edit and use - but if someone has another one that's better suited to custom sites that would be great to see.
/*************************************************************************
*
* ADOBE CONFIDENTIAL
* __________________
*
* [2002] - [2007] Adobe Systems Incorporated
* All Rights Reserved.
*
* NOTICE: All information contained herein is, and remains
* the property of Adobe Systems Incorporated and its suppliers,
* if any. The intellectual and technical concepts contained
* herein are proprietary to Adobe Systems Incorporated
* and its suppliers and may be covered by U.S. and Foreign Patents,
* patents in process, and are protected by trade secret or copyright law.
* Dissemination of this information or reproduction of this material
* is strictly forbidden unless prior written permission is obtained
* from Adobe Systems Incorporated.
*/

Marshall

4:16 am on May 5, 2012 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Personally, I use the copyright meta tag and reference the page where the copyright information is. That way, if you change it, you do not have to change each page, assuming you are not doing it dynamically.

Example:
<meta name="copyright" content= Company Name, see web address" />

Marshall

phranque

4:32 am on May 5, 2012 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



is it meta ironic to copy copyright notice wording?

BeeDeeDubbleU

9:20 am on May 5, 2012 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



That's what was thinking. :)

lexipixel

1:16 am on May 6, 2012 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Copyright notice is no longer required under U.S. law -- it is implied at the time the work is created.

The idea is "if you didn't create it, you know someone else did".

But still, the simple version of:

&copy; YYYY, Copyright Holder

(the letter "C" in a circle, the first year of publication, and the copyright holder's name), are usually used -- anything more is usually just a wordy threat of prosecution for misuse.

With that said, here's what I include in my source code:


WARNING! Commercial Software, All Use Must Be Licensed
This software is protected by U.S. Copyright Law and International Treaties. Unauthorized use, duplication, reverse engineering, any form of redistribution, or use in part or in whole other than by prior, express, printed and signed license for use is subject to civil and criminal prosecution. If you have received this file in error, please notify copyright holder and destroy this and any other copies as instructed.


Everything you always wanted to know about (US) copyright can be found at: [copyright.gov...]
 

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