Notice

A copyright notice consists of the symbol ©, the name of the copyright owner and the year of first publication. For sound recordings instead of the symbol © the symbol ℗ is used. Notice has to be placed on a conspicuous place of the copy of the work.

Use of notice ceased to be mandatory as of March 1, 1989. Before this date, if a work was published without proper notice, and the mistake was not corrected within 5 years of publication, the copyright on the work would be lost.

Although not mandatory, a copyright notice is still very useful in letting people know about the copyright status of a work and the identity of the owner. This allows a person interested in using the work to contact the owner.