What is the ISTQB rule for verifying copyright in the web page?

Question

Copyright © 2004, ABC Ltd.

Should I pass the test case or should I fail it as the website is not update as per 2022?

Answer 1

I'm not sure if there is any rule made by ISTQB or any other organisation for the example you have given.

Your question,

Copyright © 2004, ABC Ltd.

Should I pass the test case or should I fail it as the website is not update as per 2022?

Well, is there any specification that says that the copyright certificate has to be renewed every year for (and updated on) the website?

What does the requirements documents say?

What is written in the compliance policy (If at all there is one) of the document? If the document says that for compliance purposes the copyright certificate needs to be updated/renewed, then you should report it.

Does the website have any content that isn't covered by the copyright certificate issued in 2004 to ABC Ltd.? If it does have such content, does it require to be copyrighted? If yes, then you should report it. If no, then you can let it pass.

In case there isn't any documentation, you can always check with your business analysts, manager, product owner, or even the legal team of your (or the website owner's) organisation. Based on what information they provide, you can make a decision on whether to report it as something to be fixed or let it pass.

Answer 2

I agree with the previous answer, but I'm going to answer in a bit of a different way.

Agreed, there isn't any ISTQB rule. They give guidance on how to test by educating on testing principles, concepts, techniques, etc. They provide certifications on that knowledge they teach.

Just to preface, I'm not a lawyer so none of this is legal advice. I have read about copyright law, which in the US is under US Code Title 17. Other countries have different laws in relation to copyrights. I'm answering from the US perspective.

A lot of people misunderstand how to use the copyright notice Copyright © 2004, ABC Ltd. Anyone can use this mark. I can write it on this answer to copyright my response (a work of copy/text). It does not need to be registered to be effective. If you see or use ®, then that means it is a registered copyright and has been registered with the Copyright office (Federal Government). Each option provides a different level of legal protection.

While the law is lengthy, the aspect in question from the copyright law is:

A work is “created” when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time; where a work is prepared over a period of time, the portion of it that has been fixed at any particular time constitutes the work as of that time, and where the work has been prepared in different versions, each version constitutes a separate work.

In regards to this question, any "specification" to test against would need to be in relation to the law, not to a spec in a story per se. This is when you need to contact your legal department to ensure you are in compliance.

If it currently says Copyright © 2004, ABC Ltd., this can mean that's the original creation date and the content of that website may or may not have had any updates.

Other people may use Copyright © 2004 - <current year>, ABC Ltd. to signify the original creation date, any updates made each year up to the current year, updated programmatically.

Still, others may use Copyright © <current year>, ABC Ltd. where current year is auto updated programmatically regardless of original creation date. This is used due to the fact that software is dynamic and is constantly being updated.

All of these are valid and are dependent on purpose and when the content is updated.

In my own experience, I have tested a web app that failed to update the copyright. This was due to the year being hardcoded and not updated dynamically. We changed the code to update the year, every year dynamically.