The Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 word Impressum (printed, from the verb imprimĕre, i.e. to print), used in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, has no exact translation in modern English. It is a legally required statement of the ownership and authorship of a document, which must be included in books, newspapers, magazines and websites published in Germany and other German-speaking countries.

There is no equivalent legislation in the UK or US, and therefore no consistent legal term is used in English-speaking media. The closest English terms for Impressum are:

• Masthead
  Masthead (publishing)
  The masthead is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all...
  
  : for newspapers and magazines, a list, usually found on the editorial page, of the members of its board.
• Colophon
  Colophon (publishing)
  In publishing, a colophon is either:* A brief description of publication or production notes relevant to the edition, in modern books usually located at the reverse of the title page, but can also sometimes be located at the end of the book, or...
  
  : for books, a note indicating metadata
  Metadata
  The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
  
   about the book such as the date of publication, printer and publisher.
• "Site notice", "Legal notice"or "Legal disclosure": for websites in English, a page title commonly used to link to legal metadata
  Metadata
  The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
  
   and terms of use.

Webpages

The Telemediengesetz requires that German websites must have an Impressum disclosing information about the publisher, including their name and address, telephone number or e-mail address, trade registry number, VAT number, and other information depending on the type of company. German websites are defined as being published by individuals or organisations that are based in Germany, so an Impressum is required regardless of whether a site is in the .de

.de

.de is the country code top-level domain for the Federal Republic of Germany. DENIC does not require specific second-level domains, as it is the case with the .uk domain range which require .co.uk domain for example.The name is based on the first two letters of the German name for Germany...

 domain.

This law has created privacy

Privacy

Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...

 concerns for individuals who maintain blogs or personal homepages. The law has also caused lawyers to scrutinise websites for this page.

Mistranslation

The terms masthead and colophon apply to printed publications only and are not commonly used on English-language websites. 'Impressum' is sometimes translated as imprint

Imprint

In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...

, a word used in modern English for a brand

Brand

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

name under which a work is published.