Copyright Notice Examples for Websites, Books, Film, and Software

A copyright notice has three parts: the © symbol (or the word “Copyright” or the abbreviation “Copr.”), the year the work was first published, and the name of the owner. Put together, standard copyright notice examples look like © 2026 Jane Doe or Copyright 2026 Acme Industries LLC. The format is set by federal statute, and although notice has been optional for works published since March 1, 1989, when the United States joined the Berne Convention, including one still carries real legal weight.¹

The Three Required Elements

Federal law spells out exactly three pieces that make up a valid notice. Leave one out and the notice may not carry its full legal benefit.¹

A symbol or word marking the copyright claim. Use the symbol ©, the word “Copyright,” or the abbreviation “Copr.” Any of the three satisfies the statute. For sound recordings, use the ℗ symbol instead.²
The year of first publication. That is the year the work was first made available to the public. For a derivative work or compilation built on previously published material, use the year the new version was published.
The copyright owner’s name. Full name, a recognizable abbreviation, or a well-known alternative designation all work.

Who Counts as the Owner

For an individual creator, the owner is the person who made the work. When multiple authors collaborate, list all of their names. If the work was created by an employee within the scope of their job, or under certain written agreements for commissioned work, the employer or hiring party is the legal author and owner from day one. In that case, the business name goes in the notice rather than the name of the person who actually did the creative work.³

Notices for Collective Works

Magazines, anthologies, and similar collections don’t need a separate notice on every individual contribution. A single notice covering the collection as a whole protects all the separate contributions inside it, regardless of who owns each piece and whether those pieces were published before. The one exception is third-party advertisements, which need their own notice.⁴

Copyright Notice Examples by Medium

The three-part formula stays the same. What changes is how the notice appears and where it goes.

Websites

Most websites display something like © 2026 Media Group LLC in the footer. Because website content accumulates over time, many site owners use a year range running from the oldest published content to the most recent: © 2019–2026 Media Group LLC. The first year should reflect when the site first published content, not when the domain was registered. If you add new material each year, update the ending year accordingly.

Books and Printed Works

A printed book typically shows the notice on the copyright page (the back of the title page): © 2026 Jane Doe. That page usually also carries the publisher’s name, ISBN, and printing history, but only the three statutory elements are legally required for the notice itself.

Photographs and Visual Art

Photographers and visual artists often place the notice directly on the image or in a visible border: © 2026 Photo Studios. Embedding the notice in the image’s metadata is another common approach, though a visible watermark does more to deter unauthorized use in the first place.

Sound Recordings

Sound recordings use the ℗ symbol rather than ©. A typical notice reads ℗ 2026 Record Label Inc. and appears on the disc label, album packaging, or digital file description. The underlying musical composition and the recording of it are separate copyrights. A songwriter’s notice on sheet music uses ©; the label’s notice on the recording uses ℗.²

Film and Video

Films typically display the notice during the opening or closing credits: Copyright © 2026 Production House. Federal regulations allow several positions, including with or near the title, alongside the cast and crew credits, or at the very beginning or end of the work. For privately distributed copies like DVDs or Blu-rays, putting the notice on the case or container also counts.⁵

Software

In source code, the notice usually appears as a comment at the top of each file: // Copyright 2026 Developer Name. For compiled programs where users never see the source, placing the notice in the application’s “About” dialog or splash screen keeps it visible. If the software has been updated over multiple years, a year range works here too: // Copyright 2020–2026 Developer Name.

Where to Place the Notice

A notice only does its job if people can find it. Federal regulations lay out acceptable positions for different types of works, and you have more options than you might expect.

For books, the regulations accept the notice on the title page, the page right behind it, either side of the front or back cover, the first or last page of the main body, or any page within ten pages of the front or back of the book as long as the notice stands out from the surrounding text. Most publishers use the verso page (the back of the title page) because readers know to look there.⁵

For films, the notice can appear with or near the title, alongside the credits, or at the very beginning or end of the work.⁵

Website owners typically place the notice in a site-wide footer so it appears on every page. There is no specific regulation for websites the way there is for books or films, but a footer visible on all pages gives the broadest reasonable notice.

Why a Notice Still Matters After Berne

Notice has been optional since 1989, but a proper one on published copies still shuts down one specific courtroom argument. If someone infringes your work, they cannot claim they didn’t know the work was protected. The statute says courts must give “no weight” to an innocent infringement defense when a proper notice was on copies the defendant had access to.¹

Without a notice, an infringer can potentially claim they had no idea the work was copyrighted. If a court accepts that argument, it can reduce statutory damages to as low as $200 per work. That is a substantial difference when the normal statutory range runs from $750 to $30,000 per work, and up to $150,000 for willful infringement.⁶

A Notice Is Not a Registration

Confusing the two is one of the most common mistakes creators make. A notice is a label you put on your work. Registration is a formal application you file with the U.S. Copyright Office. Your copyright exists automatically the moment you create the work, with or without either one.

A notice prevents the innocent infringement defense. Registration is what lets you actually file an infringement lawsuit for a U.S. work, and registering before infringement begins (or within three months of first publication) is what makes statutory damages and attorney’s fees available at all.⁷⁸ The two work best together: the notice covers you from day one, and timely registration keeps the courtroom remedies available.

Mistakes That Weaken a Notice

A notice with the wrong information can create its own problems.

Wrong name. If you list someone other than the actual copyright owner, anyone who relies on that mistake in good faith and obtains a license from the incorrectly named person may have a complete defense to infringement. Registering the copyright under the correct owner’s name, or recording a transfer document with the Copyright Office before the infringement begins, prevents that defense.⁹

Year too early. If the year in your notice predates the actual first publication, any time-based calculations (like when the work enters the public domain) run from the earlier date in the notice rather than the true publication year. You effectively shorten your own protection period.

Year too late by more than one year. For works published before March 1, 1989, a notice that postdated the actual first publication by more than a year was treated as though the work had no notice at all. For works published after that date, omitting or botching the notice no longer forfeits your copyright, but it does cost you the innocent infringement advantage.⁹

Missing elements. A notice that includes the symbol but leaves out the year or the owner’s name may not qualify as a proper notice under the statute. To block the innocent infringement defense, all three elements need to be present.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 401 – Notice of Copyright: Visually Perceptible Copies
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 402 – Notice of Copyright: Phonorecords of Sound Recordings
3
U.S. Copyright Office. Circular 30 – Works Made for Hire
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 404 – Notice of Copyright: Contributions to Collective Works
5
eCFR. 37 CFR 202.2 – Copyright Notice
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 504 – Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 411 – Registration and Civil Infringement Actions
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 412 – Registration as Prerequisite to Certain Remedies for Infringement
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 406 – Notice of Copyright: Error in Name or Date on Certain Copies and Phonorecords