I’m sure almost everyone reading this site has something they have copyrighted, so i’ve decided that i should probably clear up the proper(and most legally binding) method of displaying copyright on your website(or artwork, music etc. etc.).

“Designers should always assert that their work is protected by copyright by using the © symbol on their page, in the format ‘© YEAR OF PRODUCTION, AUTHORS NAME’. This educates the public that you’re asserting your copyright over the work.”
Via: Sam Brown

The quote above is from Stephanie Burns of Withers & Rogers and was in the article ‘Thwart the design thieves’ in this months .NET magazine.

So basically the proper format is “© PRODUCTION YEAR-CURRENT YEAR, AUTHORS NAME”. If you are doing this in PHP you can make it update the current year automatically, using the string below.

&copy; 2007 - <?php echo date("Y"); ?>, Your Name.