E. ST. LOUIS, Ill. (CN) - Facebook lawyers asked a federal judge to transfer to the Northern District of California a class action from parents of two teenagers who say Facebook misappropriated the children's names and likenesses.
Attorneys Mark Tamblyn and Ian Barlow of Sacramento recently joined local attorney Stephen Tillery on the case. Tamblyn and Barlow had filed a similar class action in California in July, but voluntarily dismissed it in August.
"Plaintiffs' counsel cannot dispute that venue and jurisdiction are proper in the Northern District of California, as Messrs. Tamblyn and Barlow previously filed and dismissed a highly similar lawsuit, Downey, in that district," Facebook attorney Matthew Brown, of San Francisco, wrote in a memo supporting the transfer.
Brown wrote that the teens had continued to log into Facebook since the class action was filed, and therefore were subject to a statement of rights that all Facebook users accept.
That statement requires resolution of disputes in federal or state court in Santa Clara County, Calif.
The number of logins is blacked out in the redacted copy of Brown's memo, but the Madison County Record said its reporters had seen the original copy of the memo and it showed one of the teens had 185 logins and the other had 94 logins since the class action was filed.
Brown also argued that a change of venue is appropriate because most of the witnesses and documents would be at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
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