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WHEN TRADE SECRETS ARE SENT BY COMPUTER : FEDERAL LAW OFFERS ANOTHER WEAPON TO COMPANIES SEEKING PROTECTION

The Connecticut Law Tribune Vol 34, No. 43 David S. Poppick A former employee, with a few computer keystrokes, sends his employer's confidential, proprietary documents and information from his work computer to his personal home computer before joining a competitor. He faces harsh civil and criminal penalties if the employer sues under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a federal statute that intensifies the arsenal of familiar claims for breach of restrictive covenants and fiduciary duties, misappropriation or unfair competition. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. § 1030, was passed in 1984 to protect classified, financial and credit information on government and financial institution computers ('federal interest computers'). It initially provided only criminal penalties (fines and imprisonment) and only prohibited unauthorized access or hacking into federal interest computers. It did not protect against improper use by authorized users of such computers. As amended in 1994, the CFAA includes civil remedies (compensatory damages and injunctive and other equitable relief) and expands protection to include damage or loss caused both by outsiders and insiders or other authorized computer users. It also criminalizes certain types of reckless conduct and other intentional acts.

Full post as published by The Trade Secrets Vault on October 28, 2008 (boomark / email).