Twenty Twenty-Five: The copyright format may not be correct

[wildworks]

This is derived from Gutenberg PR: ​https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/65717

This theme displays the copyright in the following format in the footer via the block binding API:

© {currentYear}

However, in my understanding, the copyright should indicate the year the rights were issued, not the current year.

My suggested approach is either:

1. Delete the copyright.
2. Instead of the block binding API, embed &copy; <?php echo wp_date( 'Y' ); ?>. This will make the year persistent when the user updates the footer template part. In other words, the time when the user updates the footer template part will be considered the "year the rights were issued."

If we keep the current implementation, we'll probably need to decode the HTML entities. See ​this comment.

[poena]

Since the theme is not allowed to create a custom setting outside the Customizer,
and since themes can not add synced blocks, there is no way for the user to enter a custom value through the user interface.

What they can do if they don't want to use this format is

• Replace the block.
• Set their custom value in a child theme.

[poena]

Technically, the date of the first published post or page could also be found and used in the binding, but it still might not be what the user wants.

[wildworks]

Thanks for the reply.

My concern isn’t whether users can replace the block or override it from a child theme, but whether the default formatting is appropriate.

If it’s not, I think we’ll need to replace it with a different approach.

[poena]

I found the following information:

A copyright notice consists of three elements:

• The copyright symbol © or (p) for phonorecords, the word “Copyright,” or the abbreviation

“Copr.”;

• The year of first publication of the work
• The name of the copyright owner
• Copyright notice is optional

​https://www.copyright.gov/circs/
​https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ03.pdf

[juanfra]

Thank you @wildworks

The copyright block is intended to showcase the block binding feature. I believe that if we cannot use bindings, I'd go with option 1.

[wildworks]

It's unfortunate that we can't showcase the block binding feature, but I too would lean towards removing the copyright block.

Are there any other patterns or template parts that could showcase the block bindings?

[juanfra]

Yes, it's either removing or updating the binding to get the year of the first published post. The latter can be problematic because we would be making an assumption with that date.

There was a [conversation in Slack](​https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C015GUFFC00/p1728051600389679) where @greenshady shared a few suggestions.

[poena]

The copyright notice block binding including the text in the footer has been removed, so I am closing this as fixed.