PeopleConnect Inc. must face a proposed class action alleging it illegally uses the names and likenesses of people on its Classmates.com website without their consent to advertise subscriptions to the site.
Plaintiff Scott Mackey wasn’t bound by a mandatory-arbitration provision in the Classmates.com terms of service agreement merely because his attorney created an account on the site, Judge Virginia M. Kendall of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said Friday.
He sufficiently pleaded that PeopleConnect made public use of his identity for a commercial purpose in violation of the Illinois Right of Publicity Act,Kendall said, denying ...