On September 9, a federal judge in California dismissed claims brought by hiQ Labs, Inc. (hiQ) against LinkedIn Corp. (LinkedIn) that alleged that LinkedIn’s attempts to prevent hiQ from accessing public information on its website violated various antitrust laws. In an opinion that will continue to fuel debate over the relationship between antitrust and privacy, the court held that hiQ’s data-related antitrust claims were deficient because they failed to properly define the relevant market.
Our recent client alert details the case and highlights the increasing likelihood of disputes regarding the use of data by commercial parties and the potential for restrictions on data access to generate competition claims.