This is what one prof did when he found out that portions of his exam were posted online: he registered the materials with the Copyright Office and then sued the site (and whoever posted the materials there) for copyright infringement. 
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Was the instructor intending to reuse the spring 2021 exams for future terms, or were not all students in the spring 2021 class taking the exams at the same time remotely (due to things like time zone differences)?
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Works for me!
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I saw this yesterday and I have to say I love it. He’s not trying to bankrupt anyone, just trying to level the playing field. Also, since it’s grad students, I expect better than what I see from freshmen and sophomores. Cheating has become significantly more widespread in the last few years thanks to some of these student “help” sites.
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While the students should not be sharing the exams against the instructor’s rules, the instructor should not be reusing exams, since they are likely to get leaked (and not necessarily in obviously catchable ways like being posted on a web site). Remember the threads about the College Board reusing entire SATs that got leaked, resulting in cheating?
Love it.
S1 said cheating during the pandemic was commonplace.
It does not matter if the prof was thinking about reusing the exams or not. The graduate students signed the university’s code of conduct that states the materials are to be held in confidence. Not that different from one’s future employment contract that has similar provisions regarding confidentiality. Suing for copyright infringement is brilliant because it gives him instant access to federal courts (copyright infringement is a matter of federal law). I doubt he is after monetary damages. The article states, “He plans to subpoena the company and amend the complaint — which currently lists five John and Jane “Does” as the defendants — with their true names accordingly.” Looks like he wants to send a message to current and future cheaters: you can run but you can’t hide. 
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