Copyright Issues

[Sticks]

Is it allowed for someone to copy an entire newspaper article, online or otherwise and post it here? On one site I am a member of, (based in the US), that is a bannable offence.

On that site, you can only copy one or two lines and you must then put a link to the article. They do not even like you putting in a link to your own site where you may have scanned a copy, unless you have written permission from the copyright holder.

They say this is for legal reasons

What is the position here?

[MarkWaldorf]

Isn't copyright where you take something and claim it as your own?

[James]

In theory you are only allowed to copy excerpts of an article.

But we've never had a problem before with copying whole articles (from media outlets only) as long as you link back to the originating site.