[John Robinson]

The actual amount is left to the whim of the court. However, from this informative Copyright Timeline I found this number:

1986: Maxtone-Graham v. Burtchaell

Maxtone-Graham wrote a book containing women's stories of unwanted pregnancy and abortion in 1973. She denied Burtchaell's request to use excerpts from her published interviews. He published them anyway. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals found that quoting 4.3% of an author's work was not excessive and that Burtchaell's use of the narratives was a fair use.

BTW, that linked timeline is very information. It is apparent our system of copyright has been at the mercy of European law since 1831. I for one believe the First Congress got it right in 1790. How is "a limited time" equal to more than a lifetime? Locking up information for nearly a century does little to "promote the progress of Science and Useful Arts."

[Nita Nupress]

That's a very informative website in regards to the history of fair use. Here's one of my favorite sites: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/

BTW, how does Google get by with caching news articles? It seem to me that would be a violation also.