So…it turns out that it’s one thing for a desperate individual student to sell/create a term paper for a paper mill, but it’s a whole other matter for one person to sell a group paper without approval from the other team members (especially when the team doesn’t get a cut).
Although the mills have been immune from most legal challenges, the issues of papers for sale without authorization from all the authors may have some teeth. According to a recent U.S.A. Today article, one judge found a company liable. Of course, the company appealed and now it is in U.S. District Court.
The paper mills are preparing for trouble ahead though. ProfEssays.com (which sells custom papers) noted that “All custom essays and term papers completed by (the) company’s writers will be double-checked with the newest anti-plagiarism software.” And a corporate spokesperson for schoolsucks.com comments, “We avoid all those issues because we’re totally free.”…except for a pesky monthly membership fee to join and access the archive.