A capital C inside a circle (©), used to indicate a claim of copyright in a work.
Also known as: Copyright sign, C in a circle
The © symbol denotes a claim to copyright ownership. It gained international significance through the 1952 Universal Copyright Convention, which granted foreign copyright protection to works bearing the symbol, the rights holder's name and the year of first publication; it is no longer legally required in most Berne Convention countries but remains in wide conventional use.
Indicates a claim of copyright ownership over a creative work; historically required — alongside the owner's name and year of first publication — for a work to receive copyright protection abroad under the 1952 Universal Copyright Convention.
No longer legally required to establish copyright in most countries today, since the Berne Convention grants automatic protection on creation — the symbol remains conventional shorthand for asserting a rights claim rather than a legal necessity.
The letter C fully enclosed within a circle.
Both belong to the Intellectual property marks system.
Both denote a claimed intellectual-property right, but over different subject matter (creative works vs. brand marks).
A single C in a circle asserts copyright; two C shapes mark a licence granting permissions under it. A CC badge does not waive copyright.