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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Facebook Strikes Deal|Over Client Name Use

SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) - Facebook has agreed to settle claims it used members' names and likenesses without authorization to market products.

Class attorney Robert Arns submitted a proposed order Friday to grant settlement in the federal class action. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh still needs to sign off on the deal.

The agreement resolves March 2011 claims Angel Fraley first made against Facebook in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

Fraley purported to represent a class of Facebook users whose names, photographs, likenesses or identities were used in a Facebook-sponsored story without permission. Facebook removed the case to the Northern District of California's San Jose division a month later.

The class sought damages and injunction for unfair competition, unjust enrichment and violation of California's Right of Publicity Statute.

San Francisco-based Arns represented the class along with Jonathan Jaffe of Berkeley, Calif.

The other named plaintiffs are Paul Wang; Susan Mainzer; James Duval; and two minors, James Duval and William Tait, who sued through their respective guardians.

Facebook was represented by Matthew Brown with Cooley LLP in San Francisco.

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