I certainly agree that class notes are owned by the author/student. Does this reasoning extend to work completed by students on exams? State and national standardized exams routinely collect student work and keep it, for reasons of test security. Do students have a right to retain this kind of IP as well? Or is this work in some way different from the note-taking?

Full disclosure: I work in the Science department at a K-12 school where teachers occasionally re-use problems from one year to the next, often AP problems for which we have statistics that we can use in helping to evaluate a student's work. We routinely retain tests, again in the interest of test security.

Have you actually tried to get service at a Genius Bar recently? The last two times I've been in to have someone look at my MacBook Pro (once for the infamous "failing keyboard" issue, and today for the "charged batteries don't power the machine" fiasco), there have been ZERO appointments available for the entire day at both (southern California) outlets within driving distance. In northern California, the Emeryville store Genius Bars are fully booked DAYS in advance.

While I'm occasionally accused of being a fanboy, I've been very disappointed with how difficult it is to get basic care for manufacturer-defective equipment at the Apple stores. Maybe all that "retail traffic" is simply people waiting around to get their defective machines looked at?