Copyright & fair use (Score 1)

And while I'm on it, can someone who is a lawyer tell me if we have a right to fair use or is it merely a thing that we've enjoyed because copyright holders couldn't ever get such a firm grip on it enough to effectively control it?

Sorry, IANAL, however, from http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107:
" 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use38

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include-

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors."
There's lot's more on there, reading, for the use of.
Assuming the document that I just copied that paragraph from hasn't been put into the 'public domain' then my act of copying for illustrative purposes here could be considered fair use.
However, even from that paragraph (let alone the rest of the document) it's pretty much up to someone's opinion of whether a bunch of contributing factors add up to infringement.

It's somewhat different here in the UK but moving ever closer to the DMCA situation with the European copyright directive. :(