OpenRisk LLC v MicroStrategy Services Corporation

The fact in issue, in this case, was whether MicroStrategy illegally continued to offer services to OpenRisk ex-workers who formed a new firm, Spectant Global LLC. In Precision, OpenRisk, the plaintiff, claimed that in favor of its ex-employees MicroStrategy copied and transferred data from OpenRisk cloud environment to Spectant LLC without its knowledge (“OpenRisk, LLC V. MicroStrategy Services Corp”). Also, OpenRisk alleged that MicroStrategy deleted information from OpenRisk cloud environment without following a termination notice as outlined in the parties’ contract. Upon realization of the deletion and copying of information from its cloud environment, OpenRisk LLC filed a case against MicroStrategy for computer fraud under Virginia’s Computer Crimes act among other state-law violations. However, the Congress changed this law by introducing a federal protection provision.

This provision declares that all just rights which are equal to any of the limited rights outlined within the overall scope of copyright whether created before or after a given date or published or unpublished are governed completely by this law (“1844. Copyright Law -- Preemption of State Law”) Hence, no individual is entitled to any right whatsoever under the common law of statutes of a given state. Therefore, based on this preemption, the District Court of Virginia had no right to enact policies for copyright violations because the intellectual property in the incident fell under the subject matter of copyright as outlined by the federal copyright act. It is undeniable that the VCCA prohibits the use of a network or computer without permission to embezzle or obtain property through false deceits.