Ninth Circuit En Banc Panel Tells Employers That Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Is Only To Combat Hacking, Not Employee Trade Secret Misappropriation: United States Supreme Court May Need To Resolve Circuit Split

On Tuesday, April 10, 2012, a Ninth Circuit en banc panel released its highly anticipated decision in United States v. Nosal and affirmed the judgment of the district court dismissing criminal counts against a former employee of a headhunter firm accused of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030 et seq. by conspiring with employees of the former employer to log on to the employer’s confidential database and send proprietary files to a competitor. 

The opinion, authored by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, and supported by a majority of the 11-judge court, made the following general statements in its introduction:

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