Sam's Wines & Liquors, Inc. sued Sean Hartig, a former employee, and Plinio Group, LLC, Hartig’s new employer, claiming that Hartig stole Sam’s Wines’ confidential customer list from its computers prior to Hartig’s resignation. The list was password-protected and Hartig had signed an acknowledgement declaring that the information would not be disclosed. Hartig took the confidential customer list to Plinio and used it to solicit customers.
The court decided that the misappropriation of trade secrets through the use of a computer does not give rise to a claim based on CFAA, if "damages" was not pleaded in the complaint. Damages under the CFAA is defined as "…any impairment to the integrity or availability of data, a program, a system, or information."
Stanford Center for Internet and Society
In the heart of the Silicon Valley, legal doctrine is emerging that will determine the course of civil rights and technological innovation for decades to come. The Center for Internet and Society (CIS), housed at Stanford Law School and a part of the Law, Science and Technology Program, is at the apex of this evolving area of law.
trade secret
Copying Customer List Does Not Necessarily Imply "Damages" Under Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Our Issues
cybercrime
Fair Use Project
free speech
infrastructure
intellectual property
privacy
anti-circumvention copyright copyright copyright law Creative Commons defamation DMCA drm economics Fair Use first amendment Fourth Amendment Future of Ideas Google Hearsay Culture internet libel IP reform journalism libel podcasting Privacy surveillance tcblog Testimony trademarks
anti-circumvention copyright copyright copyright law Creative Commons defamation DMCA drm economics Fair Use first amendment Fourth Amendment Future of Ideas Google Hearsay Culture internet libel IP reform journalism libel podcasting Privacy surveillance tcblog Testimony trademarks