> is to takedown plagiarized code snippets or solutions to company assessments
So which is it? Plagiarized or solutions? Because unless your company actually owns the copyright for the code in question, you have no right to it.
If a Google assessment asks “how many manhole covers are there in New York” and someone decides to create a repo with “Manhole covers in New York: 23,000” there is no copyright claim.
Do HackerRank users affirmatively sign a non-disclosure agreement? I checked your terms and there is not an apparent non-disclosure agreement. If not, there isn’t any legal recourse if users decide to talk about or solve your problems off the platform.
Educational and not for profit use is often protected by Fair Use. I didn’t see the repo in question so I can’t comment on if the use of the material meets the Fair Use criteria.
However if people are sharing their answers to your questions in a repo, especially for educational or non-profit value, there isn’t much you can legally do about it. For example, If I take the GMAT and I discuss a question on Twitter, that’s allowed by Fair Use. If I offer to sell a PDF of the entire test, that would not be protected.
If someone said “hey HackerRank’s Ruby test asked a question about finding the smallest value in an array” and then they posted a solution. That’s absolutely not violating a HackerRack copyright. People even have the right to describe their experience on HackerRank in great detail.
From your own policy: “Content that You own and post on or through HackerRank belongs to You..”
So if someone wants to post their solution to a question, your own terms allow that. It’s their solution, it belongs to the user.[1]
If someone else “plagiarizes” another user’s solution, HR doesn’t have standing for a DMCA takedown. The user that created the content does, but not HR.
However even if HackerRank did own the solutions, there is a high likelihood that Fair Use would be in effect.
I have a strong dislike of HackerRank type companies because it’s pretty rare that those ridiculously academic assessments predict real world performance. They are a screening tool for the lazy. A well designed, relevant code test relating to the work of the company or a solid technical interview is much more valuable in my experience. When I was interviewing with companies, I immediately passed on the job of HackerRank was part of the hiring process. I ended up at a FAANG for over 5 years, so it’s pretty clear that anti-HackerRank bias among potential employees like me have a detrimental effect on recruiting.
But it's working. Here is a DCMA the author tried to fight, saying hacker rank doesn't publish their solutions, and the solution is the sole work of the author:
So which is it? Plagiarized or solutions? Because unless your company actually owns the copyright for the code in question, you have no right to it.
If a Google assessment asks “how many manhole covers are there in New York” and someone decides to create a repo with “Manhole covers in New York: 23,000” there is no copyright claim.
Do HackerRank users affirmatively sign a non-disclosure agreement? I checked your terms and there is not an apparent non-disclosure agreement. If not, there isn’t any legal recourse if users decide to talk about or solve your problems off the platform.
Educational and not for profit use is often protected by Fair Use. I didn’t see the repo in question so I can’t comment on if the use of the material meets the Fair Use criteria.
However if people are sharing their answers to your questions in a repo, especially for educational or non-profit value, there isn’t much you can legally do about it. For example, If I take the GMAT and I discuss a question on Twitter, that’s allowed by Fair Use. If I offer to sell a PDF of the entire test, that would not be protected.
If someone said “hey HackerRank’s Ruby test asked a question about finding the smallest value in an array” and then they posted a solution. That’s absolutely not violating a HackerRack copyright. People even have the right to describe their experience on HackerRank in great detail.
From your own policy: “Content that You own and post on or through HackerRank belongs to You..”
So if someone wants to post their solution to a question, your own terms allow that. It’s their solution, it belongs to the user.[1]
If someone else “plagiarizes” another user’s solution, HR doesn’t have standing for a DMCA takedown. The user that created the content does, but not HR.
However even if HackerRank did own the solutions, there is a high likelihood that Fair Use would be in effect.
I have a strong dislike of HackerRank type companies because it’s pretty rare that those ridiculously academic assessments predict real world performance. They are a screening tool for the lazy. A well designed, relevant code test relating to the work of the company or a solid technical interview is much more valuable in my experience. When I was interviewing with companies, I immediately passed on the job of HackerRank was part of the hiring process. I ended up at a FAANG for over 5 years, so it’s pretty clear that anti-HackerRank bias among potential employees like me have a detrimental effect on recruiting.
[1] https://www.hackerrank.com/terms-of-service