Californians can pursue action over yearbook photos republished without permission

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge won't stop a class of Californians from going after PeopleConnect for using their yearbook photos without permission.

PeopleConnect, a Washington based company that runs the social networking site Classmates.com, had urged U.S. District Judge Edward Chen to issue a judgment in its favor following the dismissal of a similar class action against genealogy giant Ancestry.com by U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler.

Beeler found Ancestry immune from liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act because while it used the decades-old photos to attract subscribers, it did not create the content on its site.

The same lead plaintiffs Meredith Callahan and Lawrence Abraham also went after PeopleConnect for doing the same thing, but PeopleConnect argued that Chen should nix the action in light of Beeler’s ruling.

While Chen tossed the plaintiffs’ claim that the company intruded on private information, he advanced the bulk of the lawsuit last year, concluding that it should proceed because the plaintiffs were never paid for the use of their yearbook photos and because those pictures seem to have some advertising value for PeopleConnect.

In his latest ruling denying PeopleConnect's motion for judgment on the pleadings, Chen also found the question of CDA immunity to be very much unsettled, citing a slew of rulings in similar cases that favor plaintiffs. He noted that at the time of Beeler’s ruling there was very little case precedent on CDA immunity at the motion to dismiss stage.

“Since the Court’s decision, more courts have issued decisions on CDA immunity in similar situations and overwhelmingly they are favorable to plaintiffs, not PeopleConnect,” Chen wrote, pointing to a recent decision from his Northern District colleague Judge William Orrick, who found online records aggregator Spokeo’s use of people’s personal information not protected under the CDA because it collects, curates and uploads the content on its site.

Chen also noted that both Ancestry and PeopleConnect were found to be content providers and publishers not entitled to CDA immunity in federal cases out of Illinois and Washington.

“Judge Beeler’s Ancestry decision seems to be the only case that lends real support to PeopleConnect,” he wrote. “The fact that cases now weigh even more against PeopleConnect tilts the equities strongly in plaintiffs’ favor.”

Chen also denied PeopleConnect’s alternative request to certify for immediate appeal to the Ninth Circuit the question of whether PeopleConnect can be held liable for displaying yearbook photos created by a third party.

In denying the motion, he wrote, “As plaintiffs point out, even if PeopleConnect were to prevail on the specific issue it has identified, that still would not guarantee it CDA immunity because it would still have to show that it is not an information content provider itself.”

Attorneys for the parties did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

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