Among key cases in recent years:

•College investigates. A federal judge in 1998 threw out a lawsuit by Boston University against five online term-paper mills, saying the college failed to meet several technical requirements of the law. In state court later, some companies agreed not to sell papers in the state and specifically to Boston University students, says attorney Robert B. Smith, who represented BU.

•Settled. In 2005, Blue Macellari, then a Duke University student, sued term-paper operator R2C2 Inc. and owner Rusty Carroll on 11 counts, including copyright infringement, false designation of origin, consumer fraud and deception. A paper she had written and posted online was being offered, without her OK, on sites that sell papers or access to papers. The case was settled in 2006.

•Class action. In 2006, Chad Weidner and Karolien Walravens filed a class-action lawsuit against Carroll and R2C2 after finding, on multiple sites, a manuscript they wrote. A U.S. District Court found Carroll and R2C2 liable by default on six counts, and certified the case a class action, so others may be eligible for potential compensation. Lawyers estimate that from 40 to "tens of thousands" may qualify.

•Links removed. In 2007, Pakistan-based term-paper site Axact (Pvt.) Ltd. sued New Jersey-based Student Network Resources Inc., which also sells term papers, saying the owners had defamed Axact. Student Network Resources made counterclaims that Axact was buying and republishing term papers on its site. In the end, the judge ordered Axact to pay nearly $700,000, and ordered search engines such as Google to remove links to 544 sites.