More details: See hereA US federal appeals court has revived a proposed data privacy class action against Shopify, ruling that the Canadian e-commerce company can be sued in California for collecting personal data from state residents.
Reuters reported that the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 10-1 that Shopify ⁘expressly aimed⁘ its conduct at California, allowing the case to move forward despite earlier dismissals.
California resident Brandon Briskin brought the lawsuit, alleging that Shopify installed tracking software⁘specifically cookies⁘on his iPhone without consent when he purchased athletic wear from the California-based retailer I Am Becoming.
Briskin claimed the Ottawa-headquartered company used his personal information to build a profile that could then be sold to third-party merchants.
While Shopify argued that it should not be tried in California⁘citing nationwide operations and claiming it did not direct actions at the state⁘the full 9th Circuit disagreed.
Circuit Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, writing for the majority, said, ⁘Shopify deliberately reached out ... by knowingly installing tracking software onto unsuspecting Californians⁘ phones so that it could later sell the data it obtained, in a manner that was neither random, isolated, or fortuitous.⁘
The decision overturns prior rulings from a lower court and a three-judge panel that had dismissed the case.
A Shopify spokesperson called the ruling an attack on ⁘the basics of how the internet works,⁘ arguing that it could force small business owners into legal battles far from where they operate.
Matt McCrary, counsel for Briskin, welcomed the ruling, saying it rejected the argument that ⁘a company is jurisdictionally 'nowhere' because it does business 'everywhere.'⁘
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