### 3.3.1 `@copying`: Declare copying permissions

The `@copying` command should be given very early in the document; right after the header material (see Texinfo File Header) is the recommended location. It conventionally consists of a sentence or two about what the program is, the legal copyright line, and the copying permissions. Here is a skeletal example:

    @copying
    This manual is for program (version version),
    which …

    Copyright @copyright{} years copyright-owner.

    @quotation
    Permission is granted to …
    @end quotation
    @end copying

The `@quotation` has no legal significance; it’s there to improve readability in some contexts.

See GNU Sample Texts, for the full text to be used in GNU manuals. See GNU Free Documentation License, for the license itself under which GNU and other free manuals are distributed.

The text of `@copying` is output as a comment at the beginning of Info, HTML, and XML output files. It is not output implicitly in plain text or TeX; it’s up to you to use `@insertcopying` to emit the copying information. See the next section for details.

In output formats that support it (print and HTML), the `@copyright{}` command generates a ‘`c`’ inside a circle. In Info and plain text, it generates ‘`(C)`’. The copyright notice itself has the following legally defined sequence:

    Copyright © years copyright-owner.

The word ‘Copyright’ must always be written in English, even if the manual is otherwise in another language. This is due to international law.

The list of years should include all years in which a version was completed (even if it was released in a subsequent year). Ranges are not allowed, each year must be written out individually, separated by commas.

The copyright owner (or owners) is whoever holds legal copyright on the work. In the case of works assigned to the FSF, the owner is ‘Free Software Foundation, Inc.’.

See Copyright Notices in GNU Maintenance Instructions, for additional information.