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Judge Rules for Gartner in Damages Case
A California court has dismissed a software firm's claim for $132m in damages from technology researcher Gartner, over supposed defamation, trade libel and other charges based on its treatment in a published report.
ZL Technologies claimed that by placing its e-mail archiving software in the 'niche' category box of its 'Magic Quadrant' analysis, Gartner had cost it millions of dollars.
California Ninth Circuit Court Judge Jeremy Fogel agreed with Gartner's assertion that 'the general tenor of the MQ Report negates the impression that Gartner is asserting an objective fact by assigning ZL a 'Niche' status. The cover page of the email archiving review states specifically that, 'The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice'.' He added that in his view Gartner had argued 'convincingly that its... 'sophisticated readers' - corporate and government executives and professionals - would not infer that Gartner's rankings were anything other than opinion.'
The Judge dismissed all five of ZL's allegations - 'defamation, trade libel, false advertising, unfair competition, and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage' but has left the door open for an amended complaint.
In its Ombudsman blog, Gartner said: 'we're pleased with this result and continue to stand behind the research findings that were the subject of the technology provider's complaint. While the technology provider is clearly dissatisfied with its placement in the Magic Quadrant, we will not compromise our research or be unduly influenced by threats of legal action... we take the independence and objectivity of our research very seriously. Without it, we wouldn't have a business. Gartner is not 'pay for play'. Influence over research content or the amount of research coverage focused on any vendor, sector or topic is not, and has never been, for sale by Gartner. Period.'
Web sites: www.gartner.com and www.zlti.com .
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