The Ninth Circuit announced on Thursday it will be reviewing a panel’s decision that held the California’s anti-SLAPP statute shields a tech company based in Washington from potential class claims. The allegations suggest the tech company, ZoomInfo, may have been illegally profiting from the intellectual property and publicity rights of residents in California. The decision could potentially impact any future litigation involving individuals or corporations that seek to benefit from the anti-SLAPP statute for cases tied to potential IP rights violations.
The Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) are civil cases filed against those who have communicated on an issue of public interest. These cases are often construed as means of stifling free speech. If successful, this proposed class claims case could shed light on how far-reaching the implications of the anti-SLAPP statute extend, particularly with companies potentially profiting unlawfully from individuals’ IP rights in a state that passionately vouches for its citizens’ privacy rights.
The details of the case remain limited, but rest assured, we’ll continue to follow this development closely. For more in-depth details involving this unfolding legal case, you can visit Law360 which initially reported on this story.