What is a copyright notice?

The purpose of the copyright notice is to indicate that a work is safeguarded by copyright, and is represented by the symbol "©," where "c" stands for copyright. While the first copyright notice was established in U.S. copyright law and was also included in the Universal Copyright Convention, the Berne Convention mandates that copyright enjoyment and enforcement do not necessitate any formalities, regardless of whether the work is safeguarded in the country of origin. Therefore, copyright protection is not reliant on formalities such as a copyright notice. However, it is common practice internationally to include a copyright notice on works to provide information about the copyright status and right holder(s) and indicate that the work is safeguarded by copyright. In the case of digital works, this information may be included in the metadata associated with the work.