"All rights reserved" is a phrase that originated in copyright law as part of copyright notices. Copyright law in most countries no longer requires such notices, but the phrase persists. The original understanding of the phrase as relating specifically to copyright may have been supplanted by common usage of the phrase to refer to any legal right, although it is probably understood to refer at least to copyright.

In former times, it was required to add the term All rights reserved as a written notice that all rights granted under existing copyright law (i.e., the right to publish a work within a specific area) are retained by the copyright holder and that legal action may be taken against infringement. It was required as a result of the Buenos Aires Convention of 1910 which mandated that some statement of reservation of rights be made in order to secure protection in signatory countries of the convention.