What kind of expense amounts to a “loss” under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and did a Virginia litigation-support company incur the required minimum of $5,000 in losses when it investigated an alleged breach of its computer systems, retaining the services of both an attorney and a computer…
Lawyers around the country have come to learn of the Eastern District of Virginia’s legendary “rocket docket.” With divisions located in Alexandria, Norfolk, Richmond, and Newport News, Virginia’s federal court is known as the most efficient in the country for handling intellectual property cases and complex business litigation. Also known…
Too often, disgruntled departing employees will abuse their employer’s computer system on their way out, snooping into coworkers’ email accounts, erasing important files, downloading trade secrets or other confidential commercial information, or intentionally infecting computers with viruses. In recent years, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) has become an…
The discovery process, the primary fact-finding tool available to litigants, has always been contentious. Parties are loathe to hand over potentially embarrassing or incriminating documents, and the costs involved can be staggering. The information age has only served to make things more complicated. As the Northern District of Illinois observed…
To file a lawsuit in Virginia’s state or federal courts against a non-resident of Virginia or an out-of-state corporation, it is necessary to establish “personal jurisdiction” over the defendant. A court has no power over parties to a lawsuit absent such jurisdiction. Personal jurisdiction will exist only if (1) Virginia’s…
Apparently there are still some people who think they are being clever by registering domain names confusingly similar to trademarks or domains used by existing companies, hoping to capitalize on the confusion. And what better target than Citibank, a giant company with an easily misspelled name! Judge Hilton of the…
Trademark owners take note: whether or not you participate in Google’s Adwords program to advertise your business, your competitors may be using your trademark as a keyword in promoting their competing business. Google not only allows this potentially infringing practice, it encourages it! The company actively and openly sells competitors’…