Marcus Chatterton Quoted in American Bar Association Litigation News on Scraping of Public Data and the Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act

Marcus Chatterton, partner in the firm’s Birmingham office and member of the Intellectual Property Practice and Litigation Practice, was quoted in the American Bar Association (ABA) Litigation News on May 12, 2020. 

The article, “Scraping of Public Data Likely Does Not Violate CFAA” details the ruling by the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that the scraping of public data from websites, such as LinkedIn, likely is not in violation of the Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

Marcus, who serves as co-chair of the ABA’s Social Media subcommittee of the Section’s Intellectual Property Litigation Committee, explained the implications of this ruling and how it will affect the handling of publicly available data.  Marcus shared, “We are going to see new efforts to hold data close or at least make sure creators are compensated for releasing data.”  He continued, “If more data is put behind a privacy screen to make it harder to scrape, it could change scrapers’ business models.”

Marcus is a tech-minded litigator experienced in intellectual property, social media, smart grid, electronic data, and general technology issues. He represents large and small businesses, inventors, and creative clients in copyright, patent, trademark, and trade secret disputes.