"The U.S. Department of Justice has brought a Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) prosecution in New Jersey against the owners and operators of Wiseguy Tickets Inc., an online ticket seller for concerts and sports events. A critical element in proving most violations of the CFAA, the federal computer crime statute, is that the defendant’s access to the computer (interpreted broadly to include a Web site) that is the object of the criminal activity was “without authorization or exceeds authorized access.” 18 U.S.C. 1030. The defendants are charged with unauthorized access to the Web sites of online ticket vendors (OTVs) such as Ticketmaster and Telecharge for violating the OTVs’ Web site terms of service that prohibit the purchasing of tickets in large amounts for resale to the public."

Continue reading Dorsey Partner Nick Akerman's, Can Breaching a Contract be Computer Fraud?, as it appears in The National Law Journal (November 2010).