Download a copy of Copyright Basics, Circular 1 from the net. There are no number of words you can copy without asking permission. I think the time is 75 years now, but you need to read the circular. It's easy to understand. http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright Cat In a message dated 9/7/99 2:21:44 PM Central Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: << have just finished reading a book about copyright and I still haven't gotten the questions answered: How long do newspapers retain copyrights on news articles. Are you allowed to copy up to 300 words or the whole article as long as you give impecible resources references? Anybody out there in cyber land konw the answer to this one? >>