A California District Court Judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit against Facebook challenging the use of its “Friend Finder” feature. Friend Finder is a Facebook application that discloses to users which of their Facebook “friends” have used the application. Cohen v. Facebook, N.D. Cal. No. 10-5282-RS (Oct. 27, 2011).
The question at issue in Facebook’s motion to dismiss was “whether the use of the names and likenesses of non-celebrity private individuals without compensation or consent causes injury sufficient to support standing, where plaintiffs cannot allege that their names and likenesses have any general commercial value, and they have not chosen to allege that they suffered any distress, hurt feelings, or other emotional harm.” The Court granted the Motion, finding that Plaintiffs failed to plead a cognizable injury.
