United States of America: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued ruling reversing dismissal in Briskin v. Shopify (No. 22-15815) concerning privacy violations by data collection

On 20 May 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the Northern District of California’s dismissal of Briskin v. Shopify Inc. (No. 22-15815) for lack of personal jurisdiction. The court held that Shopify’s alleged conduct, including using geolocation tools to place cookies on a California user’s device and collecting transaction data through third-party websites, established sufficient minimum contacts with California. Applying the Calder “effects” test, the court found that Shopify had expressly aimed its conduct at the forum state and that the alleged privacy violations caused foreseeable harm in California. The panel clarified that express aiming does not require prioritising the forum over other jurisdictions and rejected prior interpretations that imposed such a requirement. The court also concluded that the complaint satisfied the notice pleading standard under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2), and remanded the case for further proceedings.