More often than not when a management law firm informs its clients of recent case developments, the news is not good. This is an exception.

In a decision more in line with decisions from other circuits, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit recently decided a Computer Fraud & Abuse Act ("CFAA") case which offers significant assistance to employers' efforts to protect their trade secrets and confidential information from theft or misuse by employees, so long as employers do it correctly. The case was entitled U.S. v. Nosal, and a copy of the decision is available in pdf format below.

Case Background

David Nosal was a former employee of Korn/Ferry, an executive search firm. Nosal resigned his employment and convinced certain employees who were still employed by Korn/Ferry to provide him with information from the company's confidential Searcher database – considered by Korn/Ferry to be one of the most comprehensive databases of executive candidates in the world. Nosal was not authorized to access the Korn/Ferry database, and he did not do so. The currently employed individuals engaged by Nosal were authorized to access the Searcher database as part of their jobs, and they passed Searcher database information to Nosal.