Web Term Paper Lawsuit Settles

By Eric Goldman

In September, I blogged about Macellari v. Carroll. In that case, a student sued a website that allegedly offered her term paper for sale. The case has settled under a confidentiality cloak (registration required). However, a defendant has said he is “happy with the outcome.”

A quick settlement certainly seemed like a logical outcome, especially from the defendants’ perspective. There was little upside to them to see this case through to a judgment. Of course, settlement also leaves open the risk of “me-too” litigation. One of the defendant’s websites claims over 100,000 papers in the database–that’s a lot of potential plaintiffs!