Volume I

Issue : 10: November 13, 2003

• B.C. Court of Appeal Takes Note of Special Nature of an IT Business in Recent Decision
• Internet Browser Patent Re examination Ordered
• Time Warner to Enter the VoIP Market in California Bangladesh to Open VoIP to Private Sector
• CDT Releases Report on Spyware
• FTC Holiday Warning to E tailers
• B.C. Supreme Court has Jurisdiction Over Domain Name Dispute
• U.S. Court of Appeals Reverses FBI Eavesdropping Orders
• Pharma Companys Use of Cookies Found Not in of Violation of Privacy Legislation
• Manufacture of Garage Door Openers Uses DCMA to Fight Competitor
• Music Industry Establishes One-Stop International Licence for Webcasters
• Movie Industry Set to Sue Individual File Sharers in War Against Piracy
• Report Finds Identity Theft on the Rise in Canada
• Bank Managers Disclosure Of Private Information Leads To Cancelled Wedding

Home > Volume I > Issue 10: November 13, 2003 > Pharma Companys Use of Cookies Found Not in of Violation of Privacy Legislation

Pharma Companys Use of Cookies Found Not in of Violation of Privacy Legislation

A federal trial in Massachusetts has dismissed a class action suit against Pharmatrak, Inc. arising from the collection of personal information through the use of computer "cookies". In re Pharmatrak, Inc. Privacy Litigation came to the district court on remand from an appeals court which had held that Pharmatrak had "intercepted" personal information within the meaning of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act ("EPCA") but that the intent element of the statute had not been adequately addressed by the factual record.

Relying on legislative history, the district court found that as used in the ECPA, the term intentional means more "than that one voluntarily engaged in the conduct or caused the result." "Such conduct or the causing of the result must have been the person's conscious objective." Noting that there was only a small amount of personal data actually found on Pharmatrak's computer servers, that errors from third parties caused the collection of the personal data and that Pharmatrak had no knowledge of the existence of the personal data until after Plaintiffs filed their lawsuit, the court found insufficient intent and dismissed the case on summary judgement.

For a copy of the full decision, visit:

http://pacer.mad.uscourts.gov/dc/opinions/tauro/pdf/pharmatrakremand.pdf