How to deal with copyright notices

• Authors of Free Software want credit
  • The GPL promotes this goal
• Copyright notices also help with license compliance
  
• The GPL says:
  

  
  You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.
  

  (GPL § 1, emphasis added)
  
• When modifying code:
  
  • Old:
    

      Copyright 1999 Free Software Foundation
      

    
    
  • New:

      Copyright 2005 Your Company
      Copyright 1999 Free Software Foundation
      

    
    

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Copyright © 2003-2005, Free Software Foundation. Verbatim copying permitted provided this notice is preserved.