Intel v. Hamidi [1]

In October 1998, Intel Corporation sued Ken Hamidi, a former employee, in California state court on claims of trepass to chattels and nuisance. The dispute arose when Hamidi created the Former and Current Employees of Intel ("FACE-Intel") website and began sending mass emails critical of Intel to its employees. Intel asked Hamidi to stop sending the emails and sued him when he refused.

The California trial court granted Intel a preliminary injunction prohibiting Hamidi from sending further emails to Intel employees. During the course of litigation, Intel dropped its nuisance claim and gave up its demand for money damages. It then moved for summary judgment on its trespass to chattels claim, and the trial court granted summary judgment to the company in June 1999. At this point, the court permanently enjoined Hamidi from sending email to Intel addresses.

Hamidi appealed the ruling, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU each submitted amici curiae briefs on his behalf. Nonetheless, in December 2001, the California Court of Appeals affirmed [2] the lower court's ruling.

In January 2002, Hamidi petitioned the California Supreme Court to review the case. In June 2003, the Supreme Court overturned [3] the lower courts' rulings and dismissed the case against Hamidi. It ruled that Intel's trespass to chattels claim failed as a matter of law because Hamidi's emails did not damage or impair Intel's computers. The court indicated that, had the quantity of Hamidi's emails been high enough to damage Intel's systems, trespass to chattels might apply. In this case, however, "the claimed injury [was] located in the disruption or distraction caused to recipients by the contents of the e-mail messages, an injury entirely separate from, and not directly affecting, the possession or value of personal property." Intel Corp. v. Hamidi [3], 71 P.3d 296, 300-01 (Cal. 2003).