[Air-l] what is the turnitin copyright claim?

[Philip N Howard]

At UW, we've been advised that undergraduates control the copyright on anything they produce through coursework, but that the university controls the copyright on anything that graduate students produce through coursework.  I don't know who uses turnitin here, but it is probably reasonable to offer an opt-out option to undergraduates.

Since there are a growing number of exaggerated copyright claims, I looked for Turnitin's copyright policy. This was all I found

http://www.turnitin.com/static/usage.html
http://www.turnitin.com/static/pdf/datasheet_ip.pdf

It seems like a media relations pamphlet, but I did not see that they were claiming exclusive copyright over the materials that undergraduates upload.  In fact they are claiming the opposite, a "non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, world-wide, irrevocable license to reproduce, transmit, display, disclose, and otherwise use your Communications on the Site or elsewhere for our business purposes."

So this comes back to the ethics...I don't think we should force students to give up their exclusive copyright.  I also agree with Dan, we don't know until it's litigated.
Phil
Philip N. Howard
Assistant Professor
Department of Communication
University of Washington