RoadLink Workforce Solutions, L.L.C. v. Malpass, 2013 WL 5274812 (W.D. Wa. Sept. 18, 2013)

RoadLink Workforce Solutions, L.L.C. v. Malpass, 2013 WL 5274812 (W.D. Wa. Sept. 18, 2013).

Employer granted employee authorization to access the information on the computer he is alleged to have to copied and deleted. Employer gave employee a computer with which he could maintain and update the purported trade secret information and other files. Under the Ninth Circuit’s interpretation of the CFAA, employee’s alleged
subsequent actions—copying and deleting the files in the database—do not implicate the CFAA. These alleged actions concern the “misuse or misappropriation” of the the purported trade secrets, something the CFAA does not target. Therefore, employee did not “exceed authorized access” under the CFAA, and employer has failed to state a claim under the CFAA for which relief can be granted.