Professor Brown also put images and texts from other works, and the software to view the images, on the Digital Carrot Web Site . Within two months, Professor Brown had received complaints from Professor Smith, Mr. Kandinsky, and the publisher of an article posted on the Web site claiming copyright infringement. Professor Brown claims that he either owns the material or has a fair use right to put the material on his Web site. Issues of ownership and copyright have become complex. The networked digital environment provides vast new capabilities for individuals to use copyrighted works.
Most academics have access to tools that can digitize texts, images and sounds.
Once material is in the digital format it can be easily modified and transmitted. Add a networked computer and access to the Internet, and you have the ability to publish material worldwide. These expanded capabilities have motivated publishers to reexamine the copyright law, and put forth various proposals to control copyrighted materials. Up until the last few years, issues of copyright in the classroom and library were fairly clear. The use of intellectual property was controlled by guidelines for educational use that were mandated as a part of the revised 1976 copyright law.