It’s time for this month’s Trade Secret | Noncompete Issues and Cases in the News. (This post will be updated over the next week; however, two recent and very important decisions necessitated quick posting.)
CFAA: The much-awaited decision from the 9th Circuit (en banc) in US v. Nosal has finally issued. In short, the 9th Circuit overturned its 3-judge appellate panel and held that the District Court was correct: the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act does not apply to mere violations of terms of use restrictions. See Court narrows the reach of computer fraud law.
EEA: The other much-awaited decision – this one from the 2nd Circuit – has finally issued. In U.S. v. Aleynikov, the 2nd Circuit refused to extend the Economic Espionage Act to reach software stolen by the former Goldman Sachs programmer. For more on this, see John Marsh’s post, “U.S. v. Aleynikov: Did the Second Circuit Get it Wrong and What are the Repercussions for the Kohl/Coons Amendment to the Economic Espionage Act?” and Peter Toren’s “Second Circuit Issues Opinion in Aleynikov: Limits Scope of the EEA, Urges Congress to Take Action.” (I will be writing more on this shortly as well.)