diff --git a/COPYING b/COPYING
index eeb586b39..d60c31a97 100644
--- a/COPYING
+++ b/COPYING
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
 the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
 
     <one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
-    Copyright (C) 19yy  <name of author>
+    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
 
     This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
     it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
 If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
 when it starts in an interactive mode:
 
-    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author
+    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year  name of author
     Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
     This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
     under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.