Posts tagged CFAA.
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Update on Knicks/Raptors Trade Secrets Case and Other NBA Intellectual Property News
Categories: Defend Trade Secrets Act, Intellectual Property, Non-Compete Agreements, Trade Secrets and Confidential Information
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As we all await rulings on the lawsuits challenging the FTC’s Noncompete Rule (one of which may be decided later today), we provide an update on the Knicks/Raptors trade secret case that we previously discussed on EBG’s Spilling Secrets Podcast Series and blogged about here.  Although the Knicks had a successful year on the court, they suffered an in court loss last week to the Toronto Raptors.    

In the March 2024 edition, Bracket-Busting Trade Secret and Non-Compete Disputes in Sports, we discussed the Knicks’ federal court action against the Toronto Raptors for theft of trade secrets.  We noted that the Knicks sought neither a Temporary Restraining Order nor a Preliminary Injunction and that the defendants filed a motion to dismiss or, alternatively, to stay the case pending arbitration before the Commissioner of the NBA.      

In a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Knicks alleged that their former employee and now current Raptors employee, Ikechukwu Azotam, misappropriated the Knicks’ confidential and proprietary information at the behest of the Raptors, in violation of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (the “CFAA”), as well as various common law claims.  The defendants moved to dismiss or, alternatively, to compel arbitration pursuant to the NBA’s Constitution and By-Laws, which provide that the NBA Commissioner shall have complete and final jurisdiction over any dispute involving two or more members of the NBA. 

Blogs
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SCOTUS Favors Narrower Reading of CFAA "So" It Does Not Cover Misuse of Authorized Access
Categories: Trade Secrets and Confidential Information
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A significant opinion concerning computer security was one of those the United States Supreme Court (“SCOTUS”) issued during its end-of-term flurry this year.  Employers and others who permit computer access to sensitive information for business or other defined purposes may want to take note. Spoiler alert:  the opinion undercuts use of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (“CFAA”), 18 U.S.C. §1030 et seq., to obtain federal jurisdiction in employer-employee disputes. (As a practical matter, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 had already filled the gap for many ...

Blogs
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Congress Considers Companion Bills That Could Have Far Reaching Consequences For Companies Facing Trade Secret Theft And/Or Computer Fraud And Abuse
Categories: Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Trade Secrets and Confidential Information
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A California legislator recently introduced two bills in Congress which, if passed, could have profound effects for companies seeking to pursue claims relating to trade secrets and confidential information - one bill would create a new private right of action under federal law for trade secret theft, while the other bill would appear to limit plaintiffs' abilities to pursue existing remedies for computer fraud and abuse.
Blogs
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The "Authorized Access" Issue Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Categories: Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
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An action pending in federal court in New York demonstrates that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act ("CFAA") should not simply be added to an employer's complaint against its former employees and a competitor, primarily alleging common law claims sounding in misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition, in connection with the alleged poaching of the employer's clients. In a recent decision, the Court dismissed the state law claims, finding that they formed the real body of the case, and retained jurisdiction over the CFAA claim. The CFAA claim is now the subject of defendants' motion to dismiss, on the grounds that the former employees had authorized access to the computer systems of the employer, and therefore the statutory prerequisites to state a claim were not met.
Blogs
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Ninth Circuit Disagrees with Seventh Circuit Citrin Case and Holds that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Is Not Violated When a Disloyal Employee Accesses Electronically Stored Information for Personal Gain
Categories: Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
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This week, in LVRC Holdings LLC v. Brekka, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a published opinion rejecting an employer's argument that its former employee violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act when he emailed company client lists and financial data to himself for personal use.
Blogs
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How Employers Can Use CFAA to Get Back Laptops
Categories: Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
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Employers looking to protect their intellectual property and proprietary information, and wondering whether they can punish the departing employees that ignore demands to return laptops and other transportable electronic devices that hold such data, may now have a newly invigorated weapon at their disposal -- the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

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