Web-based Email Bombardment Campaign Does Not Amount to a Violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — Pulte Homes, Inc. v. LiUNA
[Post by Venkat] Pulte Homes, Inc. v. Laborers’ International Union of North America, et al. (E.D. Mich.) (May 12, 2010) Background: Pulte Homes, “the largest new home builder in the United States” terminated eight employees. Defendant Laborers’ International Union of…
Interesting Database Scraping Case Survives Summary Judgment–Snap-On Business Solutions v. O’Neil
[Post by Venkat, with additional comments from Eric below] Snap-on Business Solutions Inc. v. O’Neil & Assocs., Inc. (N.D. Ohio April 16, 2010) [scribd] Snap-on is one of those cases that’s great because the court canvasses the various claims that…
Google AdWords Litigation Keeps Rolling In–Parts Geek v. US Auto Parts
By Eric Goldman Parts Geek LLC v. US Auto Parts Network Inc.,3:2009cv05578 (D.N.J. complaint filed Nov. 2, 2009) [warning: 3MB PDF]. The Justia page. In my world, we have an honor code among geeks–thou shalt not harm other geeks. As…
Lori Drew Criminal Case Ends With a Whimper
By Eric Goldman United States v. Drew, 2009 WL 2872855 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 28, 2009) Almost 2 months ago, the judge presiding over the Lori Drew trial orally announced that he intended to rule in favor of Drew, but it…
2009 Cyberspace Law Syllabus and Some Comments
By Eric Goldman I have posted my syllabus for this semester’s Cyberspace Law course. This blog post describes the changes from my 2008 course reader. For more on my pedagogical approaches to the course, see my Teaching Cyberlaw article. Trademark…
Lori Drew Conviction Reflections, Part 1 of 3: Why MySpace Might Regret the Conviction
By Eric Goldman [As I’ve mentioned before, I think Lori Drew’s conviction is a tragic denouement to an already tragic situation. After thinking more about the conviction, I initially planned to blog some brief additional commentary to my initial post….
Lori Drew Guilty of 3 Misdemeanor Violations of the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act
By Eric Goldman According to news reports (WSJ Law Blog, LA Times, AP), the jury has declared Lori Drew guilty of “three misdemeanor counts of accessing a computer without authorization.” I would like to parse the actual jury verdict form…
Lori Drew Prosecuted for CFAA Violations–Some Comments, and a Practice Pointer
By Eric Goldman Before I get started, let me first say that my heart goes out to Megan Meier’s family. They have suffered a devastating tragedy, and I cannot possibly fathom the pain they must feel. As a result, I…
Search Redirection Tool Could Be Trespass to Chattels–Burgess v. EForce
By Eric Goldman Burgess v. EForce Media, Inc., 2007 WL 3355369 (W.D.N.C. Nov. 9, 2007) Every now and then a consumer goes on a me-vs.-the-world bender and decides to unilaterally save society by suing everyone in sight. Burgess’ anger over…
Taking Intangible Electronic Files is Criminal Fraud–NM v. Kirby
By Eric Goldman New Mexico v. Kirby, 2007-NMSC-034 (N.M. June 13, 2007) This is a very confusing case, so maybe you can help me figure out what it means. At minimum, this case highlights the problems that can be arise…