What are the elements of a negligent spread of computer virus claim?

Basically, there are three elements to a successful claim for the negligent spread of a computer virus. First, the defendant must owe plaintiff the duty to take reasonable care to avoid contaminating the plaintiff with the computer virus. Second, the defendant must breach this duty. Third, the defendant’s breach of duty must cause the plaintiff harm. • Duty. To whom does a business owe a duty of reasonable care to prevent computer virus contamination? It is reasonable to impute to software providers a duty to not sell their customers software contaminated with viruses. Similarly, it is reasonable to impute to Web-based businesses a duty to protect their customers from downloading infected products. It is also equally reasonable to impute a duty to any business with a Web site to use reasonable care to protect its users from downloading computer viruses. Finally, any business that uses e-mail has a duty to those with whom it communicates via e-mail to not transmit computer viruses. • ...  more