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⁠Chapter 2. General Guidelines for All Languages

Table of Contents

2.1. Copyright

⁠2.1. Copyright

When copyright notices are added to a file, they should look like this:
⁠

Example 2.1. Copyright Notice Format

Copyright YYYY[-YYYY] the Pacemaker project contributors
The version control history for this file may have further details.
The first YYYY is the year the file was originally published. The original date is important for two reasons: when two entities claim copyright ownership of the same work, the earlier claim generally prevails; and copyright expiration is generally calculated from the original publication date. ⁠[2]
If the file is modified in later years, add -YYYY with the most recent year of modification. Even though Pacemaker is an ongoing project, copyright notices are about the years of publication of specific content.
Copyright notices are intended to indicate, but do not affect, copyright ownership, which is determined by applicable laws and regulations. Authors may put more specific copyright notices in their commit messages if desired.

[2] See the U.S. Copyright Office’s "Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices", particularly "Chapter 2200: Notice of Copyright", sections 2205.1(A) and 2205.1(F), or "Updating Copyright Notices" for a more readable summary.