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Intel and Cyber-Chattels: Is There a Trespass Remedy?
A former employee floods his employer's servers with e-mail criticizing the company and urging some 35,000 employees to quit. The company alleges significant interference with productivity causing economic damages. May the company recover in tort against the former employee for losses caused by the flood of e-mail?
According to the recent California Supreme Court decision of Intel v. Hamidi, 1 Cal. Rptr. 3d 32, 39 (Cal. 2003), the answer is no ' at least not based on the ancient trespass to chattels doctrine where there is no showing of actual damage to servers or other computers.
The court's carefully worded opinion, however, does not preclude claims against Internet interlopers who overload and damage a computer system. The court discussed a variety of cases that previously found that cyberspace incursions could constitute “trespass to chattels,” a legal doctrine developed in the days of “replevin for a cow.”
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