Copyscape

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Online plagiarism detection service

title: "Copyscape" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["plagiarism-detectors", "copyright-enforcement-companies", "internet-properties-established-in-2004"] description: "Online plagiarism detection service" topic_path: "general/plagiarism-detectors" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyscape" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Online plagiarism detection service ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox website"]

Field	Value
name	Copyscape
logo	Copyscape-logo.png
founded
area_served	Worldwide
language	Multilingual
industry	Digital content
url
website_type	Plagiarism detection
commercial	Yes
registration	Optional
::

Copyscape is used by content owners to detect cases of "content theft", in which content is copied without permission from one site to another. It is also used by content publishers to detect cases of content fraud, in which old content is repackaged and sold as new original content.

History

Copyscape was launched in 2004 by Indigo Stream Technologies, Ltd., co-founded in 2003 by Gideon Greenspan. According to an interview with Greenspan, the company originally developed an alerting service called Google Alert, out of which the Copyscape service grew as an expansion.

Functionality

Given the URL or text of the original content, Copyscape returns a list of web pages that contain similar text to all or parts of this content. It also shows the matching text highlighted on the found web page. Copyscape banners can be placed on a web page to warn potential plagiarists not to steal content. Copysentry monitors the web and sends notifications by email when new copies are found, and Copyscape Premium verifies the originality of content purchased by online content publishers.

Copyscape uses the Google Web API to power its searches. Copyscape uses a set of algorithms to identify copied content that has been modified from its original form.

Reported use in plagiarism cases

Copyscape's use has been reported in cases involving 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. On August 6, 2009, Copyscape was cited as the means used to detect plagiarism before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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. Bersvendsen claimed that Apple had infringed his copyright, and the content in question was immediately removed.
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.
On December 9, 2005, Richard Stiennon, a writer at ZDNet, used Copyscape to find six Web sites that had stolen and re-published an ISP business plan he had written.

References

Gilbertson, Scott. (November 17, 2006). "Copyscape: Track Stolen Content".
Keener, Matt. (December 26, 2014). "16 Productivity Tools Nobody Can Live Without".
Mills, Elinor. (February 8, 2007). "Steal this post". [[USA Today]].
Mapes, Diane. (September 10, 2009). "Steal this story? Beware Net's plagiarism 'cops'". [[NBC News]].
Welch, Maura. (May 8, 2006). "Online plagiarism strikes blog world". [[The Boston Globe]].
Klein, Karen E.. (March 3, 2008). "Scanning for Scammers Before You Buy In". [[Bloomberg Businessweek]].
"Gideon Greenspan".
Weinberg, Tamar. (April 21, 2016). "Interview with Gideon Greenspan, Co-Founder and CTO Copyscape". Host Advice.
Klein, Karen E.. (March 3, 2008). "Scanning for Scammers Before You Buy In". [[Bloomberg Businessweek]].
Delaney, Kevin J.. (December 18, 2006). "Copyright Tool Will Scan Web For Violations". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
(March 18, 2005). "Brayton Purcell LLP v. Recordon & Recordon, 361 F.Supp.2d 1135". [[United States District Court for the Northern District of California]].
Bailey, Jonathan. (August 6, 2009). "9th Circuit Finds for PI Firm Over Theft of Firm's Web Site Content". Plagiarism Today.
Bersvendsen, Arve. (April 6, 2005). "Apple and copyright violations". Virtuelvis.
(November 3, 2005). "The Fundy Post: Sorry Seems to be The Hardest Word". Scoop News.
Middleton, Julie. (November 4, 2005). "Maxim back in gun over plagiarism". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
Stiennon, Richard. (December 9, 2005). "Copyscape, a very interesting twist on IP protection". [[ZDNet]].

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