Copyright header and the New Year

Stream: general

[Yaël Dillies]

What's our policy about the date in the copyright header for stuff that's been written in 2021 but will be merged in 2022?

[Chris B]

This is a US perspective, but if you're doing the "separate copyright headers per file" thing, what matters is the date of publication, which is whenever it was made available to the public.

[Chris B]

Also this is not legal advice*

[Huỳnh Trần Khanh]

I believe the copyright header is not a legal thing, it's just a formality :joy: so copyright law is irrelevant here :joy:

[Chris B]

Huỳnh Trần Khanh said:

I believe the copyright header is not a legal thing, it's just a formality :joy: so copyright law is irrelevant here :joy:

This is incorrect. Again, this is a US perspective, but you can find info about copyright notice for collective works in 17 U.S.C. § 401. Notice isn't required for a work to be protected, but it's far from irrelevant.