Class Action
Vance v. Microsoft
Vance, et al. v. Microsoft Corporation
Where it stands
Judge James L. Robart granted Microsoft summary judgment on October 17, 2022, holding BIPA does not reach the conduct because the relevant activity occurred primarily and substantially outside Illinois (in Washington and New York). Unjust enrichment claim also rejected because Microsoft did not use the dataset commercially.
Key ruling
October 17, 2022 summary judgment — an early and influential extraterritoriality ruling holding that a plaintiff's Illinois residence and the Illinois location of the original photo upload are insufficient; what matters is where the defendant's own conduct occurred.
Note on this record
Filing date and plaintiffs' counsel not verified; appellate history not confirmed.The record
- Court
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
- Case number
- 2:20-cv-01082 (C20-1082JLR)
- Filed
- Filing date not established
- Defendants
- Microsoft Corporation
- Plaintiffs
- Putative class of Illinois residents whose Flickr photographs (uploaded 2004–2014) were incorporated into IBM's 'Diversity in Faces' dataset and obtained by Microsoft
- Technology at issue
- IBM 'Diversity in Faces' research dataset of ~1 million annotated Flickr face images, distributed free for non-commercial bias research
- Relief sought
- BIPA statutory damages of $1,000 per negligent violation and $5,000 per reckless or intentional violation (740 ILCS 14/20), plus unjust enrichment.
Claims pleaded
Sources (2)
- Amazon and Microsoft Win Summary Judgment in Illinois BIPA Lawsuits Based on ExtraterritorialityPerkins Coie LLP · 2022-10
- Microsoft, Amazon granted summary judgement in biometric data privacy lawsuitsBiometric Update · 2022-10
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