Can I feel free to copy and paste material from a Web site if there is no copyright notice on the site?
No, no, no!
Much of what we call Computer Law is Computer Muck. All too often, there are only more questions where there should be answers. This week I thought I'd take on a question with a real answer. Allow me to reiterate. The answer is no!
Copyright protection applies automatically to any work that qualifies. Almost anything that can be put online qualifies for a copyright. This includes literary works, compilations of data, sound recordings, e-mails (yes, even an e-mail), software, etc.
The law does not require a copyright notice for a copyright to exist. This is a common misconception.
So before you copy and paste from a web site, you should get permission from the copyright owner.
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