EF Cultural Travel v. Explorica

Citation: EF Cultural Travel BV v. Explorica, Inc., 274 F.3d 577 (1st Cir. 2001).

Factual Background
Both parties offer vacation packages and tour groups to overseas destinations. Explorica was founded by ex-EF employees who created their business as a direct competitor to EF. To be competitive, Explorica downloaded all of the information that was available to the public on EF's website. Using this information, which included scheduling and price rates, Explorica was able to undercut EF. The amount of information used by Explorica from EF's website was "60,000 lines of data, the equivalent of eight telephone directories. EF sued Explorica on various causes of action, including trespass to chattels and violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.