You should first check whether your government has a policy about the wording of copyright notices on government material. For example, see the requirements for copyright notices on Commonwealth publications at www.ag.gov.au/cca (click on “General Information”, then on “Advice on copyright notices for Commonwealth agencies”).

Just as book publishers put copyright notices on their books, people who publish on the web normally have a statement about copyright on their websites. There could be an easily recognisable link to it from each page on the site. There are no special rules about how the statement should be worded, but (unless your government has a statement it requires you to use) it is a good idea for the statement to include the following:

• the copyright symbol (©) and the name, or names, of the copyright owner(s) of material on the site (this will generally be the name of the relevant government);

• the year of first publication (for websites, often in the form 2001-2007, to indicate that the material has been updated over a period of time)

• information about what visitors to the site may or may not do with material on the site (for example a statement giving visitors permission to print material for personal use, or to distribute it for a non-commercial purpose); and

• contact details (preferably including an email address) to get a copyright clearance for any of the material on the site.