Copyright 2003

[ulstrup]

Usually in january (february and march too) you find lots of Copyright "last year" sites, it's only a minor offence to my idea of good web maintenence, Merry Christmas at Easter is worse ;)

The sites i maintain all has include files with copyright "one year - this year", which means that i only have one file for each site to change, works nice, besides i make a plan of the updates of the sites, and prepares the sites so that even in my hangover haze i can press the upload button for all sites on january 1. Yes, i'm a manic about it.

[shelleycat]

I thought the copyright date should be the year it was created? For example I still have copyright 2001 on one of my sites because that's when I put it up. So why update the year unless you are changing the site? I'll probably have copyright 2002-2003 on my main site because it gets updated a lot, so some parts of the content were created in 2002 and some in 2003.

[ulstrup]

Well, actually it's not so much about legal issues, you are probably right about the date of writing/publishing, like books - haven't thought of it that way.

For me it's more like being up to date on the site, somthing like "last updated".

I wouldn't buy a widget from an online widget store that has copyright 2001 on the page - Told you I'm a maniac about the issue...

[aus_dave]

shelleycat you are correct (at least under Australian copyright law which is seems to be fairly similar to other countries).

Years of copyright should be written as a range from first published to last published, so for example a web site started last year would have 2002-2003 (but only necessary if content was added in 2003 as you point out).

Stricly speaking, the copyright notice is not a legal requirement (in Australia anyway) as copyright originates when the work is actually created, not published. The copyright notice is really just a reminder. However, I think a copyright notice looks more professional so I use them when I can ;).

[shelleycat]

It sounds like Australia and New Zealand are pretty similar for these things. I put the copyright notice to make it extra clear that no one can use my work (and it's followed by a sentance making that even more clear) and to show that I've thought about the issues. But then my pages are all personal and have a greater risk of being ripped off by kids who don't know better rather than business issues.

Personally I'd be less likely to buy from a site with a 2003 copyright when the site is obviously older than that. To me this indicates that the webmaster doesn't really know what they are doing. Heh, but then I'm a stickler for following rules :)

[ulstrup]

However, I think a copyright notice looks more professional so I use them when I can

- me too...

Personally I'd be less likely to buy from a site with a 2003 copyright when the site is obviously older than that.

- sure, content, products, etc. has to be updated too - NEW!: Pentium III 1 Ghz, 64 Mb RAM, 15" monitor, ONLY $1299 - copyright 2003 ;)

[EliteWeb]

I hardcode the year created and hypenate it with a php Data command issueing the current year, so ill always keep up to date. Ill hate when someone screws with my box and changes the year back to 1969

[AmericanBulldog]

I use this little Javascript to keep it up to date

<script language="JavaScript">
<!--

//Script created by Ronny Drappier, http://sipreal.com
//Visit http://javascriptkit.com for this script

today=new Date();
y0=today.getFullYear();

// end hiding --->
</script>

Copyright © 1998-<script language="JavaScript">
<!--- Hide from old browsers
document.write(y0);
// end hiding --->
</script>

[1][[b]edited by[/b]: Marcia at 7:59 am (utc) on Dec. 17, 2002][/1]