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Comment by joosters | Hacker News Reader

On a related note, I remember reading somewhere that you should never just put '(C) MyCompany' in code, because (C) is not the copyright symbol, and therefore is meaningless in law. (whether or not you put the date next to it)

It sounds ... plausible? But I've never heard of any legal case that ever covered this. Is it a myth?

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It's a myth. See: https://www.copyright.gov/comp3/chap2200/ch2200-notice.pdf on page 9 "Variants for the © Symbol".

Thanks!

"Acceptable variants include:

- The letter c with a parenthesis over the top

- The letter c with a parenthesis under the bottom

- (c

- c)

- (c)

- The letter c with an unenclosed circle around it."

That sounds like there was some kind of dispute once about a hand-written © where the writer didn't complete the circle, and the copyright office is covering all bases here!

Interesting that [c] is not acceptable.

> Interesting that [c] is not acceptable.

Presumably because [c] may be a proofreading mark.

Your work is copyrighted no matter what you put in it (at least in countries that have adopted the Berne Convention). The reason you want to put a copyright line in source code is to remind the reader that it is in fact copyrighted. I think `(c) ACME Ltd.` is a perfectly reasonable formula for that purpose, but `Copyright ACME Limited. All rights reserved` or `© www.acme.ltd` should also work – pick whatever feels more suitable. IANAL

That does not sound right to me. Common law (US/UK/etc.) almost always favors someone's intention over technicalities (e.g., you can sign your name as a triangle but it will still count as a legal signature if you say "this is me signing my name."

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