Post-mortem. Course Hero closed in March 2026. The account below was written after the end, with the outcome known. Separately, a blind test with the evidence cut off at September 2024, before the end, returned: not called safe. How the blind test works.

Course Hero

Study-document and homework-help platform now folded into Learneo's edtech portfolio

Blind testEvidence cut off September 2024 · Ended March 2026 · Result: not called safe

What happened

Jury verdict: $75.3M DMCA/copyright judgment against Learneo/Course Hero for stripping copyright info and rebranding materials (March 2026)

Why it did not hold

A homework-help business built on document search is being answered directly by search engines and chatbots, while a copyright verdict raises questions about what was in that library to begin with.

Course Hero is a website where students pay to find answers to homework questions and study materials. Google, ChatGPT, and Gemini now give homework answers instantly for free, making Course Hero unnecessary. The company also lost a $75 million lawsuit in March 2026 for using other schools' materials without permission, which weakens its claim to have valuable unique content. The one thing that could matter is if the company's sister apps like QuillBot or CliffsNotes start making enough money to replace the lost Course Hero revenue, or if courts block the AI companies from answering homework questions, but neither seems likely right now.

AI pressure: ChatGPT, Gemini (frontier chatbots answering homework questions directly). Students ask chatbots directly for homework answers, skipping Course Hero's document search and Q&A entirely.

Bigger players: Google (AI Overviews, live since May 2024). Google now answers homework queries on the search page itself, cutting off the click-through traffic Course Hero depended on.

What protected it. A 90 million document library and a paid tutor network still pull some subscribers, but a $75.3M verdict shows part of that library was rebranded third-party content.

Timeline

2026-07-27Quizlet wins summary judgment dismissal in similar copyright suit, contrasting with Course Hero's loss
2026-07-20Crustdata reports Course Hero traffic down 43.1% QoQ, headcount at 2,318
2026-03-09Learneo states intent to appeal the $75.3M DMCA verdict
2026-03-06Court filings cite 90M+ documents across 50,000+ schools in Post University case
2026-03-04Connecticut jury awards Post University $75.3M against Learneo for copyright stripping
2025-02-25Chegg sues Google over AI Overviews after 49% YoY non-subscriber traffic loss
2024-05Google AI Overviews rolled out to all US users
2023-03-16Course Hero conducts first layoffs in 17 years, cutting 15% of staff
2022-12-13Course Hero restructures into Learneo holding company
2021-12Course Hero raises $380-395M Series C at $3.6B valuation

Also gone

Chegg closed 2026 One Hour Translation / Blend was absorbed 2026 Quartz closed 2025

All 62 post-mortems →

This page is a post-mortem, not a live assessment, and it carries no band. The blind-test result is the only part made without knowledge of the outcome.