What is the Definition of Fair Use?

Fair use is a provision of United States’ copyright law that outlines the extent to which copyrighted work can be used or reproduced without seeking the permission of the copyright holder.  Generally speaking, fair use is only meant to cover the limited amount of duplication necessary for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.

A more thorough definition can be found in Title 17 of the U.S. Code, Chapter 1, Paragrah 107

Room for Interpretation

As Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonja Sotomayor has repeatedly pointed out during her confirmation hearings, changes in technology and …

This is a very interesting question, and one that is not as easy to answer as it might first seem.   What looks like a single question is in reality four.
1)     Is it possible to copy text from another website onto my own site?
2)     Is it legal for me to use text from another website on my own site?
3)     Is it ethical for me to use text from another website on my own site?
4)     Is it effective to copy text from another site onto my own site?
Is it possible to copy text from another site onto my own site?

The first question …