Man vs. Machine: Court Examines Bot's Data Scraping As Improper Means Of Appropriating Trade Secrets

In Compulife Software Inc. v. Newman, 959 F.3d 1288 (11th Cir. 2020), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit examined the intersection between technology and improper use or acquisition of trade secrets. At issue was whether using a bot to access a tremendous amount of free, publically available information could be considered "improper means" of acquiring a trade secret.

In the case, Compulife sued a competitor for misappropriating proprietary information from its database of life insurance quotes. Compulife sold insurers access to the database to help them create cost estimates based on up-to-date comparisons of insurers' premium rates. The database was based on publically available information but relied on Compulife's secret methodology and formula. The company sold two different kinds of access: a "PC quoter" license, allowing licensees to install the quoter on their personal devices, and a more expensive "internet-engine" license, which