On Monday, June 30 the California Supreme Court ruled in Intel vs. Hamidi, refusing to allow the technology company to block Ken Hamidi, an ex-worker, from sending mass emails to Intel employees. Professor Mark Lemley ’91, with the assistance of Boalt’s Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy clinic, wrote an amicus curiae brief in support of Hamidi. The brief was submitted on behalf of more than 40 computer and intellectual property law professors
The decision reversed a lower court ruling that prevented Hamidi from sending Intel employees emails regarding his firing and the company’s labor practices. The brief argued that the lower court ruling created a new tort dangerous to the Internet, electronic commerce and free speech.
The court’s decision cites the brief, as well as “The Continuing Expansion of Cyberspace Trespass to Chattels,” a Berkeley Technology Law Journal article by Laura Quilter ’03.