Turnitin.com - Fair Use or Copyright Infringement?

In October 2006, four students from Arizona and Virginia high schools took Turnitin.com, the plagiarism-proofing company, to court for copyright infringement. The company operates by archiving student-submitted works and other literary materials in a database. When a student submits his/her paper, the program scans the paper against the archived works. The plaintiffs argued that the company was violating copyright laws as it archived the materials without permission and made a profit. The judge, however, ruled in Turnitin.com’s favor, citing fair use. (Read more.) So, what exactly is fair use and how does it apply to this case?

Fair use is an exception to copyright in which the user has permission to use the material without permission from the copyright owner. Typically, fair use applies when a work is used for educational or research purposes. There are four items that are considered when determining if an item is fair use (from Copyright Act, Section 107):

1) “the purpose and character of the use, including whether such is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes”

2) “the nature of the copyrighted work”

3) “amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole”

4) “the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work”

The guidelines for fair use are vague, leaving users, lawyers, and judges to varying interpretations. With the emergence of the electronic age, copyright issues and terms of fair use have become increasingly more complicated.

Turnitin.com argues that the “fair use” policy applies because it is used for educational purposes—as a teaching tool for students to learn about plagiarism. In addition, it is regarded as “transformative,” a common plea in copyright cases, in which the work is used for a purpose other than its original intent. In addition, it does not retract from students being able to profit from their work and in fact protects their work because it restricts others from copying it.

While Turnitin.com has won this battle, the plaintiffs’ lawyers plan to appeal…


References

Glod, M. (2007, March 29). McLean students sue anti-cheating service. Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802038.html

Turnitin. (2008). Retrieved October 23, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnitin

U.S. Copyright Office. (2006). Copyright: Fair use (FL-102). Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved October 23, 2008, from http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

Plagiarism Instruction for Students

This week I'd like to focus on the plagiarism aspect of copyright. As a teacher, I expect the concept of plagiarism to be understood by the time students are teenagers; however, there are times when I encounter adults (typically, their parents) who don't understand the concept at all. For example, I had a student copy a poem rather than write his own. When I called home, his mother defended him because he changed some of the words. She didn't understand how using any part of a poem (someone's artistic genius) is considered plagiarism, and I'm still not sure if she understood when I was done explaining.


To reiterate this point, some of you may have read the news story that highlighted college students who, ironically, were accused of plagiarizing their ethics manual:


"University Students Plagiarizes Parts of Honor Code", USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-03-30-texas-plagiarism_N.htm


I am sure that you all have plagiarism stories from your own teaching or librarian experience. I often times wonder, what more can I do? So, for those of you who are teachers or librarians, I'd like to know...

How is the concept of plagiarism taught in your school? What types of instruction, activities, and/or resources do you (or others) use?

WELCOME!

Welcome to my blog! I'm hoping to delve into some interesting copyright issues in the months to come. I look forward to chatting with all of you and getting your stance.

To get this blog started, I just wanted to share with you a copyright website that I love. For those of you who enjoy entertainment trivia/gossip, it gives you the 411 on the some of the most infamous copyright cases - like Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" imitation of Queen & David Bowie's classic "Under Pressure." And who can forget Leslie Neilsen's poster parody of the pregnant Demi Moore? I urge you to check it out:

http://www.benedict.com/Default.aspx