Students Sue Anti-Plagiarism Service

jazzbazzfazz writes "It seems that some students in Virginia are not happy with the anti-plagiarism service Turnitin. The company checks prose submitted by its customers for signs that it has been copied in whole or part by comparing it to a large database of works that it maintains. Trouble is, it also adds the submitted prose to its files and stores it for use by the company in future scans, which the students feel is illegal use of their copyrighted materials. I think they've got an excellent case, especially since they seem to have prepared for this eventuality: they're A-students, never been accused of plagiarism, and they formally copyrighted their papers prior to their submission to Turnitin."

First Post

[Anonymous Coward]

First post! Oh shit, I plagiarized this.

Re:First Post

[Anonymous Coward]

First post! Oh shit, I plagiarized this.

(c) Anonymous Coward 2007. All rights reserved.

Where is your homework ?

[Anonymous Coward]

My homework is finished, it is not yet copyrighted and you haven't returned the nondisclosure form to my attorney. Deduct points and I'll sue ya.

Re:First Post

['nother poster]

No, you didn't! It's obviously fair use.

And that is what the company will claim, or the school will claim copyright since the schoolwork was OBVIOUSLY a work for hire.
   

Re:Why woudn't they want their work cataloged

[raehl]

I realize that it does indeed violate their copyright, but as a student, wouldn't you want your paper in their catalog so that some lazy student can't make it through school by plagiarizing YOUR work?

I guess that would depend mainly on how much you were able to sell your paper for.

Re:I predict

[Anonymous Coward]

Hopefully in your "really great" papers you used the correct phrase, "all for naught." Keep up the good work.

Re:I predict

[Score Whore]

My wife is an adjunct professor at a university, and she pretty routinely nails at least 1 or 2 students for blatant plagiarism per class.

Don't take this wrong, but I think I want to be in your wife's class. I can plagiarize with the best of them and if my punishment is to be nailed by the teacher....

Re:Probably not fair use.

[bmwm3nut]

Unless the research is from government funding. All of my funding comes from the NSF or NIST, and since the money is taxpayer's money research that comes from it cannot be copywritten. So in addition to giving the Journal the transfer-of-copyright form, I also send them a form that says technically I have no copyright to transfer to them.

Re:I predict

[Anonymous Coward]

You obviously haven't seen his wife.

Re:First Post

[mikael]

Most colleges and universitiesdo claim that any work you submit becomes the intellectual property of the university. I don't know how well it would hold up in court, but it would likely be a horrific mess.

Look's like SCO have a new business opportunity ...