In re Vizio, Inc. Consumer Privacy Litigation
United States District Court for the Central District of California
238 F. Supp. 3d 1204 (2017)

- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Vizio, Inc. (defendant) manufactured smart TVs, enabling consumers to watch streaming video services from their televisions via an internet connection. Vizio’s smart TVs came with preloaded software that collected data about consumers’ viewing habits. Vizio sold this information to third parties. In addition to viewing history, the data Vizio collected included the purchaser’s media access control (MAC) address, internet protocol (IP) address, zip code, and region and language settings. Vizio consistently sent software updates to its smart TVs to improve and update their performance. The plaintiffs sued Vizio, alleging that Vizio’s failure to adequately disclose the data collection violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). Vizio filed a motion to dismiss. Vizio argued that, under the VPPA, (1) it was not a videotape service provider, (2) the plaintiffs were not consumers, and (3) the data collected did not constitute personally identifiable information.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Staton, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.