Ever since I made my first web page 13 years ago I have followed the pattern of showing a copyright notice in the footer of each page.

Over the years the format of this notice has changed in the following way;

• Copyright © <NAME> yyyy. All rights are reserved.
• Copyright © <NAME> yyyy
• © yyyy <NAME>
• © <NAME>

This has generally mirrored the format used by Google. However, I recently noticed that they no longer display a copyright notice on their home page nor have one in their source code/meta tags. I see they still display it on most (if not all) other pages. I understand that Google are very keen to keep the word count down on their homepage, which could be the reason for this sacrafice, but my question is more general and relates to all websites.

Since I've always just done it out of habit, I'm hoping someone can explain if/when I a copyright notice is actually required to protect your content and rights. Also, when it is required, is there a format in which the notice must adhere to in order to be valid?