Copyscape
 | |
| Developer(s) | Indigo Stream Technologies |
|---|---|
| Platform | Internet |
| Type | Plagiarism detection |
| Website | http://www.copyscape.com |
Copyscape is an online service for detecting online plagiarism that checks whether text content appears elsewhere on the web. It is provided by Indigo Stream Technologies, Ltd.
Features
- Given a URL of the original content, Copyscape returns a list of web pages that contain copies of all or parts of this content.
- The Copysentry service monitors the web daily and sends email notifications when new copies are found.
- The Copyscape Premium service allows searching for copies of offline content by copying and pasting text. According to the site, this service is intended for online content publishers to verify the originality of content they have purchased.
- Copyscape Banners are used to warn against content theft.
- An online forum is focused on discussing Intellectual Property rights online.[1]
Use in Plagiarism Cases
Copyscape has been used in a number of cases to detect online plagiarism:
- On March 18 2005, Copyscape was reported as the means used to search the Internet for unauthorized use of materials in the case of Brayton Purcell LLP vs. Recordon & Recordon, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (361 F.Supp.2d 1135). According to Brayton Purcell, Copyscape was used to search the Internet for unauthorized use of materials on October 7, 2004.[2]
- On April 6 2005, Arve Bersvendsen, a Norwegian Web developer, used Copyscape to find a copy of a CSS tutorial he wrote posted on a site owned by Apple Inc.[3] Bersvendsen claimed that Apple had infringed his copyright, and the content in question was immediately removed.[4]
- On October 17 2005, Paul Litterick of the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists used Copyscape to analyze Bruce Logan's published newspaper work, setting off a plagiarism scandal. Litterick found that some of Logan's work was taken (in most cases with permission) from Anglo-American sources, including the Heritage Foundation, the Conservative Christian Fellowship, the Institute for American Values, Digby Anderson of the Social Affairs Unit and writers Maggie Gallagher and Melanie Phillips. Litterick published the results in the Fundy Post (Issues 18 and 19). Logan retired from the Maxim Institute one month later. [5]
- On December 9 2005, Richard Stiennon a blogger at ZDNet used Copyscape to find six websites that had stolen and re-published an ISP business plan he had written.[6]
Design
According to the Copyscape website, Copyscape uses the Google Web API to power its searches. Copyscape can find online copies of textual content, but not of images or other media. Copyscape uses a set of algorithms to identify copied content even that has been modified from its original form. Copyscape is not able to determine whether a copy is authorized or unauthorized, nor is it able to determine which of two websites copied the other. Both of these determinations are left up to users.
History
Copyscape was launched in 2004 by Indigo Stream Technologies, Ltd., which was co-founded in 2003 by Gideon Greenspan.[7]