On March 27, 2007 four high school students filed legal action against iParadigms LLC, parent company of Turnitin.com. The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia. This is the jurisdiction in which two of the four plaintiffs reside.
The basis of the lawsuit is that turnitin.com willingly violates United States copyright laws through its archiving and re-use of the student’s original work product in a for-profit enterprise. Although the students’ respective school systems were complicit in the coercion of the materials, no proceedings have been filed against the schools or their employees.
The students, all minors, were forced to enter into unenforceable contracts with turnitin.com under threat of receiving failing grades. Their work product was clearly identified as being copyrighted and not authorized for archiving. Despite the foregoing, turnitin.com has archived the materials and uses the copyrighted work on a continual basis in its high-profit enterprise.
Links to Relevant Court Documents:
A.V., et. al. v. iParadigms, LLC Amended Complaint for Copyright Infringement filed April 16, 2007.
iParadigms, LLC Motion to Dismiss filed April 26, 2007.
Plaintiff's Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss filed May 6, 2007.
U.S. District Court Denial of iParadigms Motion to Dismiss issued May 11, 2007.
This website will be updated continually as the case develops and court documents will be posted as they become available.
| |
|
