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…
Advertiser Liability for “Contributory” Trespass to Chattels Redux–Burgess v. American Express
By Eric Goldman Burgess v. American Express Co., 2007 NCBC 15 (N.C. Superior Ct. May 21, 2007) David Fish points to an interesting new ruling on the subject of advertiser liability for pop-up advertising (I’m inferring that the pop-ups were…
SAP Has Bad News in Oracle Lawsuit, But Tries to Bury It
By Eric Goldman Oracle Corp. v. SAP AG, Case No. 07-CV-1658 MJJ (N.D. Cal. answer filed July 2, 2007) You’re an international corporate giant with some bad news in a high-profile case that you want to bury. What do you…
Domain Names Can’t Be Trespassed–Utube.com v. YouTube
By Eric Goldman Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corp. v. YouTube, Inc., 2007 WL 1655507 (N.D. Ohio June 4, 2007) Boy, this case got a lot of attention when it was first filed (which isn’t surprising; YouTube lawsuits usually do)….
Facebook’s Lawsuit Against Competitive Email Harvesting Continues–Facebook v. ConnectU
By Eric Goldman Facebook, Inc. v. ConnectU LLC, 2007 WL 1514783 (N.D. Cal. May 21, 2007) A universal truth of the digital era: a website displaying user email addresses will be targeted by email harvesters sweeping up those email addresses…
Oracle v. SAP Lawsuit Comments
By Eric Goldman Oracle Corporation v. SAP AG, 3:07-cv-01658-EMC (N.D. Cal. complaint filed March 22, 2007) I realize I’m a couple weeks late to this story, but it’s too important/interesting a case not to address. TomorrowNow (TN) is a company…
Fourth Circuit Rejects Anti-Spam Lawsuit–Omega World Travel v. Mummagraphics
By Eric Goldman Omega World Travel, Inc. v. Mummagraphics, Inc., No. 05-2080 (4th Cir. Nov. 17, 2006) Wow, what a huge ruling on spam from Judge Wilkinson in the Fourth Circuit! People–even judges–hate spam so viscerally that it’s almost impossible…