Code header for proprietary code

Here's one I turned up from a quick google code search (from Adobe). Seems' pretty boilerplate to me:

 /*************************************************************************
 * 
 * ADOBE CONFIDENTIAL
 * __________________
 * 
 *  [2002] - [2007] Adobe Systems Incorporated 
 *  All Rights Reserved.
 * 
 * NOTICE:  All information contained herein is, and remains
 * the property of Adobe Systems Incorporated and its suppliers,
 * if any.  The intellectual and technical concepts contained
 * herein are proprietary to Adobe Systems Incorporated
 * and its suppliers and may be covered by U.S. and Foreign Patents,
 * patents in process, and are protected by trade secret or copyright law.
 * Dissemination of this information or reproduction of this material
 * is strictly forbidden unless prior written permission is obtained
 * from Adobe Systems Incorporated.
 */

I would not be too wordy in the header of your source files; this is just annoying nonsense that hardly anybody ever reads. Why wouldn't you rather put a very short statement which links to the full legal agreement (NDA, whatever), either by referring to the file distributed with the source code, or with a plain HTTP link?

/*
 * This file is subject to the terms and conditions defined in
 * file 'LICENSE.txt', which is part of this source code package.
 */

You can then ask your lawyer to provide you with a rock solid, legally sound, text which you store in one single place with your source code distribution.


Just to add to that Alan's comment from 2009-06-19, copyright is created on "fixation" (ie creation of the copyrightable work and it being written or recorded on some physical medium) in any jurisdiction that is a signatory to the Berne Convention, which is most of the world apart from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and a handful of countries in Africa and SE Asia — all the blue countries in this map; TRIPS effectively requires that all World Trade Organisation members implement this.

Map of Berne Convention signatories