Should we be updating copyright years on branches?

[Richard Kenner]

> If a release is made, then the copyright dates ought to be updated in 
> files that have changed, at least that's always been my understanding.

Yes, but that update should have been done *when the file was changed*.
Or am I missing something here?  Because anybody can take any of the
files at any time, they always have to have an up-to-date copyright notice,
reflecting when changes were made.