Law Commons^™

Internet Property Rights: E-Trespass., John D. Saba Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

Plaintiffs whose Internet property rights were violated have depended on the common law tort of trespass to chattels. Plaintiffs in Thrifty-Tel, Inc. v. Bezenek and CompuServe Inc. v. Cyber Promotions, Inc. successfully argued defendants trespassed their chattels. In Thrifty-Tel, defendants hacked into plaintiff’s system to obtain long-distance access codes. The court reasoned that electronic signals were tangible and indirect interference in the form of electronic trespass could support a claim for trespass to chattels. In CompuServe Inc., defendants used plaintiff's internet server to send out mass emails to plaintiff’s clients. The court upheld a permanent injunction holding that electronic signals …