[Air-l] turnitin issue

[Alexis Turner]

In response to the original question - is there precedent - I think the closest 
thing could possibly be the Google cache copyright case that was closed last 
year (in which Google was sued under the auspices that its caching function 
breached a web page creator's copyright).

Story can be found here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/27/google_cache_copyright_breach_ruling/

In short, a few points, in Google's favor:
Google's use was deemed Fair Use because:
	Google did not create the article, rather, the user "created" it when 
they placed a request with Google to serve the page.  In other words, the page 
would never have been printed or seen the light of day had the user not clicked 
the button.
	The plaintiff was perfectly aware in advance of what would happen and 
did nothing to stop it.  The parallel here would be if a school required 
students to accept accept use of TurnItIn - which is a legitimate action 
(consider the requirement to sign a non-compete or non-disclosure agreement as a 
legitimate requirement for employment, or an agreement to sign an academic 
honesty statement) - in order to be part of the student body.
	There was no evidence that Google profited from the feature in a way 
that outweighed its beneficial and "transformative" use.  IMHO, this is the 
point at which the Turnitin question is most in the air - it could be decided 
either way.
	The plaintiff was unable to prove that his own market for his work was 
infringed upon.  No offense to undergraduates, but given the average quality of 
the undergrad paper, I suspect that this would hold true for Turnitin as well.
	Google acted in good faith.
	Google, as a service provider, is permitted to store temporary copies of 
material under the DMCA.

This does not match the Turnitin case precisely, but I think it has many 
relevant parallels to consider.
-Alexis