Can I copyright my website?

Can I copy a website article if there is no copyright?

• I saw a good website and I want copy all the website content. Can I do that if I do not link back to that website or credit to the author?

• Answer:

  Probably not. But I'm not a lawyer (you might also ask this question in the Business & Law section). There is such a thing as "implied copyright" as well as something known as "prior art." The latter means that if the web site you're copying from finds out you've stolen their content without their permission, and they can prove they did it first, you can be held liable. It doesn't take much to copyright something. There may be a copyright notice on the web site (or even in the source code) that you just didn't notice. I'd be very careful about taking someone else's work without even attributing it to them.