In printed media, an impressum is identical to the printer's imprint as defined under UK law. Under the Printer's Imprint Act 1961,[5] which amended the earlier Newspapers, Printers, and Reading Rooms Repeal Act 1869, any printer must put their name and address on the first or last leaf of every paper or book they print or face a penalty of up to £50 per copy. The UK Political Parties, Elections a
nd Referendums Act 2000 extends the use of imprints in the case any election material to include all forms of communication, including websites and social media accounts. All election material is also required to show the name of the promoter of the material and the name and address of the person on whose behalf it is being published.[6]
There is no equivalent legislation in the United States. The closest English-language terms for Impressum are:
Masthead: for newspapers and magazines, a list, usually found on the editorial page, of the members of its board.[7]
Colophon: for books, a note indicating metadata about the book such as the date of publication, printer and publisher. "Site notice", "Legal notice", "Legal information" or "Legal disclosure": for websites in English, a page title commonly used to link to legal metadata and terms of use. The terms "masthead" and "colophon" apply to printed publications only and are not commonly used on English-language websites, while "site notice" is website-specific and "legal notice" or "legal disclosure" are rarely found in printed works. An "imprint" in publishing may also mean a brand name under which a work is published,[8] and so may not be understood to mean an Impressum.
