In Creative Computing v. GetLoaded.Com, the Ninth Circuit heard arguments from two online "load-matching" service companies. The suit brought by Creative Computing (dba, Truckstop.com) alleged trade dress and copyright infringement claims as well as violations of the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. § 1030) by the defendant, a rival load-matching company whose products looked suspiciously like plaintiffs.

While the opinion primarily deals with damage calculations under the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act, it does include an interesting hacker story in the "Facts" section.

Here's a preview: "The Getloaded officers thought trucking companies would probably use the same login names and passwords on truckstop.com as they did on getloaded.com. Getloaded’s president, Patrick Hull, used the login name and password of a Getloaded subscriber, in effect impersonating the trucking company, to sneak into truckstop.com. . . Getloaded’s officers also hacked into the code Creative used to operate its website. Microsoft had distributed a patch to prevent a hack it had discovered, but Creative Computing had not yet installed the patch on truckstop.com. . ."

Aside from the obvious ethical lesson here, this case underscores the importance of downloading and installing the latest Windows security updates. In the plaintiff's defense, much of this commercial snooping took place in 1999, before Windows security flaws started making headline news.