Yes, it’s actually to notify people who aren’t part of countries with membership to the WTO of the first available year of public declaration of distribution without restriction, however, putting “1997” on your website makes it look old so people put current year to make it look new.
It’s only legally distinct in Aruba, Eritrea, Kiribati, Micronesia, North Korea etc… so it’s almost entirely useless.
I meant it’s a red flag if someone can’t spin up the code and is making an intern change it by hand every year.