A lawsuit filed Thursday by some computer repair technicians says they’re being forced to become licensed private investigators.

The legal battle pits computer repair shops against the Texas Private Security Board which regulates private investigators.

Austin P.C. Tech Owner Michael Rife fixes all kinds of computer problems, but now he’s worried the state is limiting his ability to work.

Rife and other computer technicians are represented by the newly-formed Institute for Justice. The group claims a change in Texas law requires computer technicians to be licensed private investigators.

“Anyone who performs an investigation according to the state without a license is subject to up to a year in jail and $14,000 dollars in penalties,” said Matt Miller, Texas Chapter of the Institute for Justice.

Private investigators are under the regulation and are licensed by the Private Security Board, a division of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

“You have a definition here of private investigations company,” said DPS Captain RenEarl Bowie.

Bowie says the State’s Occupations Code definition was recently expanded to include those who use computers to conduct private investigations.

“The private investigation industry obviously has grown and now we have people involved in private investigation work that do utilize computers and things of that nature,” Bowie said.

Yet the Institute for Justice argues it’s a move by private investigators to cut out competition.

“The lawsuit we filed today is challenging the effort by private investigators to have a law passed that now criminalizes perfectly legitimate computer repair work and makes criminals out of hard working men and women and their customers,” said Chip Mellor, Institute for Justice.

The lawsuit will leave it up to a judge and jury to clarify the differences and any areas of overlap between private investigators and computer technicians who both use computers to do their jobs.