Can You Be Sued For Violating Terms Of Service

Violation of a Website'south Terms of Service is Not Criminal

Cyberspace users tin can breathe a collective sigh of relief equally the Ninth Circuit has simply reaffirmed their prior precedent that violating a website's terms of service is not a criminal act.

While the appeal handed down is a mixed bag of good and bad news for Rimini, the company Oracle sought to hold criminally liable for violating Oracle's TOS, the skilful is that Rimini has escaped the criminal liability portion of the district court'southward judgment. The bad news is that the circuit courtroom affirmed the district courtroom's judgment on the copyright infringement claims.

Tin You lot Ignore a Website's TOS?

While the contempo Ninth Circuit ruling absolved Rimini of criminal liability for violating Oracle'south TOS, that doesn't mean consumers and businesses are gratuitous to starting time violating service terms left and right. Individual websites can still pursue other claims against individuals that violate their terms of service, and websites can also simply deny services to those that violate their terms.

Interestingly, in the Oracle v. Rimini case, Oracle never cut off service from Rimini despite repeated violation, and Oracle issuing a cease and desist. Specifically, Rimini violated a term that prohibited the use of automated scripts to scrape information, only noted that they started using the automated scripts on Oracle's own proffer (before the TOS was inverse to prohibit the utilise of scripts). The court reasoned that since the data was available, the violation of the terms of service in the method of access simply cannot be seen every bit a criminal act, or admission without permission.

Unpermitted Access Nonetheless Illegal

While the violation of a website'south TOS may not be enough to be the basis of a criminal action, that doesn't hateful that you tin can just go ahead and ignore the law. Accessing unpermitted areas of websites, especially if there has been some circumvention or hacking, can nonetheless be prosecuted nether state and federal laws. For instance, if Rimini connected to access Oracle's website later on being denied access, criminal liability could have fastened.

Related Resource:

United States Ninth Circuit Cases (FindLaw'south Cases & Codes)
Court Upholds California Laws Against Prostitution (FindLaw's U.Due south. Ninth Circuit Blog)
Surrogate Mother Can't Regain Her Children, 9th Cir. Rules (FindLaw's U.Southward. Ninth Excursion Weblog)