Linking practices and their effects on website traffic and consumer access

Email to my friend to help her establish a legal Internet site

Dear friend:

I understand that you want to set up a legal internet site, and I think your intentions are honorable. Setting up such a site can be a challenge not only in the technical sense of the word, but also in the legal sense since there are some legal strictures that must be met.

As see the example of the E-Bay / Bidder's Edge case, for instance, where Bidder's Edge was sued by E-Bay for having trespassed private property, Internet sites although apparently public can, from a certain aspect, be viewed as private too. Bidder's Edge ended up having to pay for its offense. It would certainly be beneficial, therefore, for us to examine relevant minutiae of its case and see how we can avoid similar problems.

Firstly: what did Bidder's Edge do that was different than eBay's normal customers? And Why does it matter to eBay?

Bidder's Edge is a business rather than a consumer set out to purchase and this may be its greatest demarcation between it and consumers out to scout e-Bay for prospective purchases. The objective, namely the business of Bidder's Edge, was to help consumers comparison-shop for the lowest price on auction web sites by posting auction items on its web site. E-Bay is a major industry in this regards -- if not the most dominant industry in this field, and, therefore, Bidder's Edge was eager to extend its automated searches to eBay. E-Bay was reluctant since automated searches conducted by Bidder's Edge on its site would result in reduced system performance, system unavailability, and possible data loss.

What is the definition of traditional trespass to personal property?

Most law dictionaries define trespass as related to property along the terms of "committing an unlawful injury to the persons, property, or rights of another, with actual or implied force or violence" (e.g. American Heritage Dictionary) for instance -- and particularly here - to enter on another's land wrongfully. In short, "unlawful entry of property " (Barron's Real Estate Dictionary).

Does the definition of trespass to personal property in your text differ from the California definition of trespass to computer services? How?

Bidder's Edge argued that the traditional definition of trespass was different to the case epitomized by e-Bay since e-Bay was recognized public property. However, they were incorrect since e-Bay's servers, as part of its site, were e-Bay's private property and Bidder's Edge interfering with those servers, despite e-Bay's direct prohibition not to, accordingly represent a breach of private property. E-Bay had intended to give conditional and limited public access to those servers, and, furthermore, did not permit Bidder's Edge to use those servers in the manner that it had intended. By deliberately flouting that rule and by accessing the site in a manner in which it was forbidden to do and in which harm could have ensued, Bidder's Edge, according to North Californian District Court judge, was guilty of trespassing on another's property.