One defense for both copying to disk and printing of Web pages may be fair use. According to the copyright statutes the fair use of copyrighted material is not infringing. Just because the purpose of the copying falls within one of those enumerated in the statute does not automatically mean that the copying is fair use. For instance, a teacher still cannot make twenty copies of an entire text book and claim fair use. The remaining tests must be examined as well.
Factual works receive less protection from fair use copying than fictional or fanciful works.
Application of this test to the World Wide Web will obviously depend on the Web page in question. Infringement is more likely found when a story on the Web is copied or printed than when a research report is copied or printed. One of the results of the popularity of the Web is the fact that now almost anyone can publish a work. It will be interesting to see if that fact will change how much weight courts give to the published status of a work. The commercial status of the work may also make a difference as to whether copying is fair use, though some courts have refused to take that factor into account.