Legal Question in Technology Law in Washington
Accessing competitor's websites
Q: My employer obtains information from the website of another competing firm in our industry (publishing). They caught on and have blocked our IP Address so our IT guy installed an anonymizer to mask our presence. I believe there was talk of a lawsuit against us at one point. Now we have changed the way we access the site such that it is accessed using a VNC Viewer on our desktop. Either way, the company does not have the permission to access this website. Are they breaking the law?
A: Has your competitor explicitly forbidden your company from accessing its site, or has it merely blocked your IP address without any explanation? You say your company ''does not have the permission to access this website.'' Is that merely because of the IP address block?
It's probably not a criminal act, but your company may be violating the other company's website terms of use, which may set up a civil cause of action.
Q: The way I heard it there was a phone call to us where a lawsuit was threatened. Without using the anonymizer the website simply says ''Forbidden,'' so yes I guess the IP was also forbidden in addition to being blocked. Currently it now reveals a Red Hat Enterprise Linux ''test page,'' and no access is granted
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Accessing competitor's websites
The terms of use of the website may affect the competitor's right to exclude your company from accessing the website. But even without a published terms of use, if they authoritatively communicated that your company was prohibited from accessing their website the continued entry could be trespass (and have both civil and criminal liability). An example of authoritative communication is from an officer-manager-executive of one company to an officer-manager-executive of the other company. (If I were involved in this communication I would make it in writing, and follow up with action to effect it, e.g. blocking access from your IP address(es).
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
