No, a copyright date is the first date of publication and an imprint date can be many years later, e.g., a later edition based upon the original copyright date.
To carve, inscribe, embed, imprint, etc.
The best way is to place an imprint of your signature on the statue, indicating that you are the one who made it. Also, go to U.S. Imprinting Office in order to officially make your sculpture copyrighted.
Same as copyright notice for anything else: Copyright, or copr. or circle-C, the date of copyright and the author or other copyright owner's name. E.g., "Copyright 2012 Walt Disney Productions, Inc."
No, the copyright date is not always the same as the publication date. The copyright date is the year when a work is legally protected, while the publication date is when the work is made available to the public.
Not necessarily. The release date can be well after the copyright date.
Not always. A popular book may come out in many editions over many years, but the copyright date stays the same.
The base word for imprint is "print."
Rider - imprint - was created in 1908.
Imprint - newspaper - was created in 1977.
Villard - imprint - was created in 1983.
Picador - imprint - was created in 1972.
Imprint Records ended in 1997.