Home Symbols Copyright Symbol Copyright Symbol © Copy and Paste Tap © to copy it, then type the year and your name after it: © 2026 Your Name. Below you will find every keyboard method plus the sound-recording mark ℗ and the lookalikes to avoid.
Updated 25 September 2026
How to Type the Copyright Symbol Unicode U+00A9 COPYRIGHT SIGN HTML © or © Windows Alt + 0169 (numeric keypad); Ctrl + Alt + C in Word Mac Option + G iPhone Open the emoji keyboard and scroll to the Symbols category; © sits near the end with ® and ™ Android Gboard: tap ?123, then =\<; © is on that page next to ® and ™ LaTeX \copyright
Copyright Symbol Variants and Lookalikes ℗ Sound Recording Copyright Phonogram mark for the recording itself; printed on records next to ©
ⓒ Circled Latin Small Letter C An enclosed letter, not a legal mark; sits lower and looks off-centre in text
Ⓒ Circled Latin Capital Letter C Same block; sometimes used decoratively in bios
🄯 Copyleft Symbol Reversed C for copyleft licences; font support is still patchy
® Registered Sign For registered trademarks only, never for creative works
™ Trade Mark Sign Claims a brand name or logo, not the copyright in a work
(c) Typed Form Acceptable in plain text; word processors usually convert it to ©
Using the Copyright Symbol The copyright sign tells readers that a creative work — text, photos, music, code, a logo — has an owner who controls how it is copied. A full notice has three parts in a fixed order: the symbol, the year of first publication and the owner's name, as in © 2026 Jane Doe . Leave one space after © and write the year without abbreviation. "All rights reserved" is optional in every country that follows the Berne Convention, which today means almost all of them, but it does no harm and still appears in most website footers.
Do you need to register first?
No. Copyright exists automatically the moment a work is fixed in a tangible form, and the notice is a courtesy rather than a requirement. That is the big difference from the registered symbol , which is legally reserved for trademarks that have been through an official registration process. Adding © to something you actually made is always safe.
Year ranges
Sites that publish continuously often write © 2019–2026 with an en dash between the years. The range is not needed for legal protection; it simply signals that older material on the site is also covered. A footer that reads © 2026 alone is just as valid, and a stale year does not weaken the claim either.
Common mistakes
Typing (c) instead of the sign. Word and Google Docs convert it automatically, but plain-text fields, code comments and profile bios will keep the parentheses. Using ⓒ, the circled small c from the enclosed alphanumerics block. It is a separate character that screen readers announce as a letter. Placing © on a sound recording. Music releases use ℗ for the recording itself and © for the artwork and liner notes; look at the back of any CD to see both side by side. Claiming copyright on work you did not create. A © under a reposted image changes nothing legally and irritates the original artist. On social media
Artists and photographers add © and their handle to captions and watermark corners to discourage reposts without credit, and many Instagram bios open with "© all art is mine" for the same reason. Because the sign is part of Latin-1, it renders on every phone, in display names on most platforms and inside game chats, so it also works as a small decorative mark: a bio divider, a prefix in a display name or a tag on a fancy font header. In a handle it is often deliberate irony, the same joke people make with ™ on the trademark symbol page.
Copyright Symbol FAQ What is the correct format for a copyright notice? Symbol, year, owner: © 2026 Jane Doe. Put a space after the sign and use the year the work was first published. You may add "All rights reserved" or a range of years, but neither is required.
Do I have to register my work before I can use ©? No. Copyright arises automatically when you create the work, so you can add the sign straight away. Registration with a copyright office is optional and mainly matters if you ever need to sue for statutory damages in the United States.
How do I type © on an iPhone or Android phone? On iPhone, open the emoji keyboard and look in the Symbols category near the end of the list. On Android with Gboard, tap ?123 and then =\< to reach the second symbols page, where © sits beside ® and ™. Either way you can also copy it from this page.
What is the difference between © and ℗? The © sign covers the creative work: lyrics, artwork, text, photos. The ℗ sign (P in a circle) covers a specific sound recording, which is a separate right owned by whoever produced the recording. Album covers usually show both.
Can I put the copyright symbol in my Instagram bio or username? It works in bios, captions and display names on every major platform because it is a basic Latin-1 character. Usernames on Instagram, TikTok and X only allow letters, numbers, periods and underscores, so it cannot go in the handle itself.
Does © 2026 need to be updated every year? Legally, no. The year in a notice records first publication and does not expire. Websites update it or use a range mostly so that the site looks maintained, which is a marketing habit rather than a legal one.