High Quality
Open the downloaded document, and select print from the file menu (PDF reader required).
INTHEUNITED
STATES
DISTRICT
COURT
__._
FORTHEEASTERNDISTRICT
OF
VIRGINIA
hjfi-.
~:
r
-•
""T^
AlexandriaDivision
A.V.,
etaJU,
)
Plaintiffs,
)
v.
)
Civil
Action
No.
07-0293
IPARADIGMS,
LIMITEDLIABILITY
)
COMPANY,
)
Defendant.
)
)
MEMORANDUMOPINION
This
matter
comes
before
theCourt
on
Plaintiffs'
Motion
for
Summary
Judgment
andDefendant'sMotion
for
Summary
Judgment.Plaintiffs,four
minorhigh
schoolstudents,havefiled
a
complaint
against
Defendant
iParadigms,LLC
allegingcopyright
infringement
basedon
iParadigms'digital
archiving
of
Plaintiffs'
copyrighted
materials.
iParadigms
has
filed
a
counterclaimseekingindemnificationagainst
allPlaintiffs.iParadigms'
counterclaimalso
alleges,
as
against
Plaintiff
A.V.,
(1)
trespass
to
chattels,
(2)
violation
ofthe
Computer
FraudandAbuse
Act,
18
U.S.C.
§§
1030(a)
(5)(A)
(iii)
and
1030(a)
(5)(B)
(I)
and
(3)
violation
of
the
VirginiaComputer
Crimes
Act,Va.
Code.
§§
18.2-152.3and
18.2-152.6.
DefendantiParadigms
owns
andoperates
Turnitin,
a
proprietarytechnologysystem
that
evaluates
the
originality
of
written
works
in
order
to
prevent
plagiarism.Educational
institutionscontract
with
iParadigmsand
require
theirstudents
to
submittheir
writtenworksvia
Turnitin.
When
the
student
work
is
submitted
to
Turnitin,
the
systemcompares
the
work
electronically
to
content
availableon
the
internet,
student
works
previouslysubmitted
to
Turnitin
andcommercialdatabases
of
journalarticles
and
periodicals.
Turnitin
thenproduces
an
Originality
Reportfor
each
submitted
work,
which
indicateswhether
a
student's
paper
is
notoriginal.The
teacher
then
evaluates
the
Originality
Reportand
decideswhether
to
addressanyissues
with
thestudent.
Uponrequest
to
Turnitin,
the
teacher
can
obtain,
for
comparison
purposes,copies
of
archivedworks
whichappear
tobe
plagiarizedby
thestudent.
Turnitin
alsohas
the
ability
to
archive
a
student's
workupon
its
submission
to
Turnitin.
This
allows
Turnitin's
database
to
growwith
eachstudent
work
submitted.However,
this
featuremust
be
specificallyauthorized
by
the
school
district
in
order
to
allow
Turnitin
to
archive
the
student-submitted
works.
Over
7,000educational
institutions
worldwide
useTurnitin,resulting
in
the
daily
submission
of
over100,000works
toTurnitin.
In
order
to
submit
a
paper
to
Turnitin,
a
studentmust
first
registerbycreating
a
profile
on
the
Turnitin
web
site.
The
finalstep
in
the
profile
creationprocessrequires
thatthe
studentclick
"I
Agree"
totheterms
of
the"user
agreement"
(also
referred
toas
the
"ClickwrapAgreement")which
is
displayeddirectly
abovethe
"I
agree"linkthat
the
studentmust
click.The
Clickwrap
Agreement
states:
"Turnitinand
its
servicesare
maintainedby
iParadigms,
LLC
["Licensor"],
and
are
offered
to
you,
the
user
["User"](
conditionedonyour
acceptance
withoutmodification
of
theterms,
conditions,
and
notices
contained
herein."
(emphasis
added).
The
ClickwrapAgreement
alsocontains
a
limitation
of
liability
clause:
Inno
eventshalliParadigms,LLC
and/or
its
suppliers
be
liable
for
any
direct,
indirect,
punitive,incidental,
special,or
consequential
damages
arising
out
oforin
any
wayconnectedwith
the
use
of
this
web
site
or
with
the
delay
or
inability
to
use
this
web
site,
orfor
any
information,software,products,andservices
obtained
through
this
web
site,
or
otherwisearising
out
of
the
use
ofthis
web
site,
whetherbased
incontract,
tort,
strict
liability
or
otherwise,
even
if
iParadigms,
inc.
or
any
ofits
suppliers
has
beenadvised
ofthe
possibility
of
damages.
(emphasis
added).
At
the
time
of
the
filing
ofthe
complaint,Plaintiffs
attended
highschool
in
Virginia,
inthe
FairfaxCounty
Public
Schools
("FCPS")
system,
and
in
Arizona,inthe
TucsonUnified
SchoolDistrict
("TUSD").
Both
schoolsystems
contractedwith
iParadigms
to
utilize
iParadigms'
Turnitintechnologysystem
and
bothauthorizedTurnitin
toarchive
student-submitted
work.
According
to
schooladministrators,
plagiarismhadbecome
a
major
problem
in
eachschool
district
and
Turnitin
was
employed
in
aneffort
to
decreaseplagiarism
in
theirschools.
Both
school
Add a Comment
michael756left a comment