im a lawyer in new zealand. hah
What area of law are you needing assistance in? That might help to narrow down the search some and not waste your or their time.
Tucker
I’m not sure if its copyright. Probably more like invasion of privacy or something like unfair competition. Might be able to throw something federal in because they would have used wires to get into your site. What state are you in? What about your competitor?
Kraig,
Wife is a lawyer - pretty good bike rider so I married her anyway - and she would probably ask if you have some form of user agreement/license agreement that states your sites policies concerning copyright and ownership/distribution/disemination of intellectual property that users are required to read and acknowledge when they sign up at your site? Seems to me that without langauge that asserts such specific limitations on the use and disemination of the intellectual property contained within the “walls” of your website, then it may be a little more difficult to prevail in a court of law! If the material was downloaded by the individual in question who then made copies (via email or file save operations) outside of what is considered the normal context of operation of your website, then I think in a broad sense that is also a violation of copyright law in terms of intellectual property!
I assume that you are wanting to consult a legal professional because this breach may (or already has ) result in some form of physical, emotional, and/or monetary damage to you or your business? Although it would be interesting to know the name of the manufacturer that would appear to be too cheap to pony up the money for their own R&D, I imagine that disemniation of such information may also border on libel and/slander - not sure how courts view speech “communicated” via an internet discussion forum? So how about giving us a hint - is the company in question an actual component manufacturer - ie they own their own manufaturing facility somewhere - or is this simply a marketing entity that is able to find unique Tiawanese/Malaysian products to which they attach their logo?
Michael
I think you’d need an intellectual property lawyer. email me and I can maybe put you in touch with someone.
T
Kraig:
This consumer is paying a fee to view your information for his own benefit. If he chooses to share this knowledge which he has paid a fee (whatever it may be) is not an issue and he has not committed a tort unless he has agreed to a Confidentially Agreement or a Nondisclosure Obligation before signing into your website. If you have a statement that the website member must agree to before viewing the information that states that the member will not share this information for personal gain, patents or share or permit to be used any such notes, memoranda, drawings, specifications, program data, or other materials, it being agreed that any of the foregoing shall be and remain the sole and exclusive property of your company or you. If you do not state this you are out of luck. I would personally call the president of this company and explain what has happened and you expect your ususal consulting fee for this information as your wisdom and educational experiment has provided the company with the knowledge that they attained fraudulent. Be very polite and professional. I don’t know the real problem with this consumer getting this info the company, but the President might be pissed off by the employee getting this info falsely.
Kraig,
MikeTris hit the nail on the head. The only real issue here is that someone obtained information at a reduced rate by lying to you about his/her status. To me your only real financial damage is the difference in your rate structure. Sucks that someone would do this, but don’t waste any more energy beyond communicating your position to the president.
Robert
Kriag:
If your information is used by the company to make a new flux compastitor from your information, you then own the interlectual properties of this design, thus you must be compensated for your contribution to the design. This could be a real zinger for you.
I do not feel you are greedy. Why should you give a discount to anyone for your knowledge? You could invoice this conusmer for the full amount, and if he did’nt pay you could file a claim in small claims court for theft of services and wire fraud. Seems like a big hastle, why dont you instead try to get him fired. That would add a little satisfaction.
Kraig,
Have you been able to discern how your information is being used in this matter? It is just “personal” or is the user using this information in a design, product manufacture, advertising, etc.?
Kraig,
Sorry to hear that you have been made a victim of this sort of theft. It would be hoped that the agreement one has to acknowledge to gain access would be sufficient to prevent this sort of thing. But then the agreement sort of anticipates that this might happen, at least in the absence of such an agreement.
It sounds like you have done everything you should have done to protect your intellectual property. It looks like you have a nice solid foundation and footing to stand on.
It would seem, at the very least, the employee may have seriously jeopardized his employment. If not, then the owner/president of the company may have placed his enterprise at substantial risk. Definitely not a very good business practice or plan.
It would really be fascinating to learn of your outcome after pursuing this matter. Only fair, after asking for our advice, referral, assistance, etc., that you let us know how things work out for you on this.
Best wishes for a satisfactory outcome and good luck.
Why not consult with the lawyer who wrote your disclaimer and copyright language?
Unless of course you simply took that from some other site. Hey that would be funny, wouldn’t it?
Ok, I really don’t like to out myself like this on this forum but I am an Intellectual Property lawyer. I’m a licensing lawyer and not a litigator, but a couple of things stand out.
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If the person who gained access to the password protected area of your site and then used information found there for other than his personal use, that person breached the contract he agreed to in your click through. If he did it for his employer to get commercial gain from something that is your trade secret, that company may be guilty of misappropriation. They may also be infringing your intellectual property (for example, making unauthorized reproductions of copyrighted material or engaging in a process that is covered by a patent) -
Unfortunately, you don't usually have a cause of action (the stick with which you enforce your right to complain and demand an end to the bad conduct) without damages. You are clearly damaged if they have exploited your IP or trade secrets for their commercial gain. Or even if you have licensed the same type of information to similar entities as the company (the damages would be the amount you licensed the information for).
Now, having said all that, there is nothing to prevent you from drafting a strongly worded letter to the company and the individual demanding that they immediately stop using and accessing your information in an improper way.
Leigh
I can’t help you with the legal stuff, but I sure can empathize. I write a lot of articles and research pieces and I put some of them on my website for free viewing by potential customers. My “Terms of Use” page makes clear that it is all copyrighted.
Can you believe that I got a mass-mail piece sent to my own home with one of my articles in it? The mailer claimed it as his own newsletter content and was soliciting clients with it. The piece had made a correct (well, lucky) call about the direction of the stock market.
We settled the issue amicably – I (er, my lawyer) forced him to send out another piece (7,500 of them) with an apology and proper attribution of the source of the article. What a clown.
Does this posting constitute legal advice?