What Is A Legally Protected Interest?
Is the interest in making money a legally protected one in this context?
To answer, consider another example. Suppose that the CEO of CompuServe was upset when he thought about the Cyber Promotions emails going through the CompuServe computers. Would that be a legally protected interest?
The interest would be a legally protected one in this context if harm to the interest were sufficient to support a claim of trespass. That is, suppose that Promotions intentional unauthorized use of CompuServe’s computers did not impair their value, and suppose that the only harm that occurred was the emotional distress of the CEO. The CEO’s interest in avoiding emotional distress is legally protected in this context if, and only if, the court would hold, on the basis of the emotional distress, that Cyber Promotions trespassed.
In general, an interest is legally protected by the doctrine of trespass to chattels if, and only if, a harm to that interest by an intentional unauthorized use of personal property is sufficient for a court to that the use is a trespass.