The California based law firm Littler Mendelson’s Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets Practice Group discussed a recent dismissal of a Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claim brought by a company against its former employee.
The case, Ajuba International, L.L.C. v. Saharia (PDF), involved the U.S. federal court for the Eastern District of Michigan rejecting
Previously this blog outlined the various approaches Courts have taken to applying the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), 18 U.S.C. 1030, to workplace misuse of employer provided computer resources.
A recent opinion from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, seriously limits the applicability of the CFAA to the employer/employee relationship and challenges other
Even now email continues to have an “informal” character, business transactions occurring over email thread may, in certain circumstances, create a binding contract.
With this in mind, companies can avoid significant expense in relation to unintended contract obligations and litigation by simply addressing how their employees – especially those in sales or purchasing – conduct
Michigan Companies were recently given a new tool for fighting back against trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition.
Specifically, in Actuator Specialties, Inc. v. Chinavare the Michigan Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court’s determination that Actuator Specialties established a threat of misappropriation against its former employee and his new employer. This threat entitled
Nothing captures the meaning of the Holidays (it is surprising how many winter festivals/holidays one could choose from or – cynically speaking – could use to develop a religious discrimination claim) than the giving and receiving of gifts, especially tech gadgets. And this invariably means employers will ring in the new year with an influx of
I previously discussed an employer’s obligation for reporting child pornography found on company IT resources. See What Should an Employer Do if Child Pornography is Discovered in the Workplace. One of the recommendations made in that post was to report child pornography to law enforcement, “no exceptions.”
The importance for following this recommendation was recently
Last week I had the opportunity to present at the 2011 Thomas M. Cooley Law Review Symposium’s Who’s Mining Your Business: Privacy Infringement and Profits. The Law Review members, spearheaded by Dayana Echeverry, put together a phenomenal program. It was a great opportunity to share the stage with an incredible panel of Internet
A recent denial of unemployment benefits in Berglund v Industrial Technology Institute (7/21/2011) offers important insight for both employers and employees when it comes to accessing Internet pornography in the workplace and technology use policies.
Under Michigan law, an employee is disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits if he
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, As Criminal Laws Proliferate, More Ensnared (Gary Fields and John Emshwiller), details the increasing number of federal criminal statutes and federal prosecutions – a threefold increase over the last 30 years. The article attributes – in part – this upward spiral to the criminalization of issues generally
A recent employment termination turned litigation offers important lessons for employers and employees when it comes to preserving computer information maintained on company issued laptops and related equipment.
In Larkin v. Trinity Lighting, Inc. (PDF) (S.D. Miss. Apr. 20, 2011), Larkin was employed by Trinity as a salesperson and provided a company laptop, desktop computer