Turnitin gets sued for copyright infingement

Parents Forum
21

<p>Turnitin had revenue of $10,000,000 in 2003. The owner of Turnitin, John Barrie, recently admitted (<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2007/tc20070313_733103.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2007/tc20070313_733103.htm&lt;/a&gt;) that Turnitin's revenue has DOUBLED every 12 months since 2003. </p>

<p>2003 = $10,000,000
2004 = $20,000,000
2005 = $40,000,000
2006 = $80,000,000
2007 = $160,000,000
2008 = $320,000,000?</p>

<p>Student compensation since 2003 = $0</p>

<p>FYI, the DMCA set the penalty at $150,000 per violation, not the attorneys.</p>

22

<p>I was hoping to get a lively discussion going, and it looks like I was successful.</p>

23

<p>How profitable each publisher was was NOT the issue when Kaavya Viswanathan was accused of plagiarism. The legal issue is whether there is infringement. So far that claim still looks very dubious. </p>

<p>Moreover, the students ARE compensated. They can take their grades to the bank, knowing that they attended a school that verifies submitted papers for originality.</p>

24

<p>Sorry, but that claim holds no water. This is NOT a "work-for-hire" situation in favor of the school. The students PAY the school. Outside of the pornography industry, how many people do you know who PAY to be violated?</p>

25

<p>I don't work in the pornography industry, but perhaps you can tell us about your experiences there. </p>

<p>Let's see what happens in court.</p>

26

<p>Is there a reason why you feel the need to personally insult me--AGAIN?</p>

27

<p>It seems to me that the existence of plagiarism is what drives the business of TurnItIn, so the only students who should be compensated are those whose essays are good enough to be copied. If no one copies anyone else's essay then Turnitin will go out of business. Turnitin.com should then charge the students whose essays are not plagiarized for storing their essays electronically since they are of no use to the company. Of course then the students who are caught plagiarizing will claim that the company incentivizes entrapment by creating an environment where students will willingly let others copy their essays.</p>

28

<p>Good reply in post #27.</p>

29

<p>Don't know much about the lawsuit, but an interesting fact:</p>

<p>The poli sci department at my school uses turnitin. We're in Canada, but because we turnitin is American, our essays (and whatever profile info we share) is subject to the Patriot Act. But, like some of the above posters mentioned, we have no choice - use the service or fail the paper.</p>

30

<p>Tokenadult is a troll. Ignore him or her - they're just trying to get a rise out of you because it makes them feel superior.</p>

31

<p>Actually, I'm an author who has had my works plagiarized by students, which is why I care about plagiarism, and I am a lawyer by professional school education, which is why I find the legal theories here interesting. If a participant here has citations to law about copyrights, and an explanation of the legal theory under which Turnitin will be sued, I'd be glad to hear about it. </p>

<p>P.S. "He" would be the correct pronoun for referring to me in the third person.</p>

32

<p>"Ignore" functions as a monotransitive verb and requires a direct object. The pronoun should be in objective ("him"), not subjective form ("he).</p>

33

<p>
[quote]
"Ignore" functions as a monotransitive verb and requires a direct object. The pronoun should be in objective ("him"), not subjective form ("he).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Of course I was referring to gender, not to case. But in fact the person to whom I replied also wrote "they're," using a contracted phrase with a pronoun in nominative (subject) form.</p>

34

<p>KelseyG, didn't you mean to say that DownwithTurnitin was a troll rather than Tokenadult?</p>

35

<p>mardad, do you refer to as a "troll" everyone with whom you disagree, or is your justification for that insult simply that I am a new member? </p>

<p>Question: When you first signed up, did you automatically receive credit for 602 posts, or did you start at 0 and slowly build to 602?</p>

<p>By the way, don't let my irrefutable evidence and facts get in the way of your insults. </p>

<p>For the record, I've now been insulted THREE times by two different, "senior" members.</p>

36

<p>What's the legal theory in the pleadings of this case?</p>

37

<p>
[quote]
But in fact the person to whom I replied also wrote "they're," using a contracted phrase with a pronoun in nominative (subject) form.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Perhaps "they" refers to you and the royal you. :)</p>

38

<p>Is there an online posting of any court filings in this case?</p>

39

<p>Yes, I found the lawsuit PDF here: </p>

<p><a href="http://www.essayfraud.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.essayfraud.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

40

<p>Thank you. </p>

<p><a href="http://volokh.com/files/iparadigms.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://volokh.com/files/iparadigms.pdf&lt;/a> </p>

<p><a href="http://www.overlawyered.com/2007/03/turnitin_suit.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.overlawyered.com/2007/03/turnitin_suit.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>