Rakuten, Inc. has confirmed a judgement has been issued in a class action lawsuit against its consolidated subsidiary Buy.com Inc. (currently, RAKUTEN COMMERCE LLC) (U.S.).
1.Court and date of judgement
(i) Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
(ii) Date: June 23, 2015 (PST)
2.Case history
Plaintiff, Michael Ambers, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Buy.com customers who made credit card purchases and were required to provide a telephone number on the Buy.com website at the United States District Court, Central District of California – Southern Division, on February 5, 2013. The plaintiff claims collecting a phone number in a customer credit card transaction violates the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act. On April 30, 2013, the court granted the motion to dismiss by Buy.com. On October 25, 2013, Michael Ambers filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, seeking for the reversal of the court order of the first instance that had dismissed his complaint.
3.The content of the judgement
The court affirmed that the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act does not apply to the plaintiff’s online purchases and concluded that the district court properly granted the motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s complaint.
4.Overview of the subsidiary
(1) Company name: RAKUTEN COMMERCE LLC
(2) Address: Aliso Viejo, California, U.S.A.
(3) Representative: Fumio Kobayashi, President
(4) Business: E-Commerce businesses in the U.S.
(5) Issued capital: USD 11 million
5.Forecasts
We do not expect this judgement will affect the earnings of the Rakuten Group.
Notes
1) This English translation is provided for information purposes only. If any discrepancy arises between this translation and the Japanese original, the Japanese original shall prevail.
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