Tech giant Google is back in court this week as it seeks to defend off an appeal over a ruling to throw out a data privacy class action against it.
Two years ago, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of 1.6m individuals to the English High Court against Google and its artificial intelligence company, DeepMind.
The legal action was a result of two firms striking a deal with London’s Royal Free Hospital, which it exchanged patient data for discounted use of a DeepMind developed smartphone app, designed to prevent deaths from acute kidney injuries.
The deal saw the Royal Free hospital hand over 1.6m historical medical records from patients who had passed through the London NHS trust.
In 2017, the UK’s information watchdog later said the Royal Free had failed to comply with privacy laws, as patients had not consented to their data being shared.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) refused to fine the Royal Free, instead told the hospital trust to put in place measures to improve transparency around use of patient data.
The lawsuit was launched by London law firm Mishcon de Reya as an opt-out class action, bankrolled by AIM listed litigation funder Litigation Capital Management (LCM).
The case went to a hearing in March 2023 for two days as the tech giant applied for an application to strike out the case, while seeking for a summary judgment on the basis that the claim had no prospect of succeeding.
A judgment handed down in May with Mrs Justice Heather Williams bringing the case to an early conclusion, ruling that the class members could not advance to trial.
She granted Google’s strike out application and and allowed for a summary judgment.
Now, the parties are set to be back in court as the claimants are seeking to overturn that ruling, with a hearing at the Court of Appeal all day on Tuesday.