Facebook in fresh legal soup over 'Like' button

London, Dec 19: Who would have thought that a 'like' can land you in legal tangles? The case in question is that of popular social networking site Facebook and its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg who faces a possible legal issue over the usage of the 'Like' feature on its website.

The Facebook feature is pretty popular that gives the option to users to like any product or interests that users "like" to their friends. The same could be illegal under Californian law that forbids unauthorized use of people's likenesses for commercial purposes.

The matter was reported in the Daily Mail that could make the company vulnerable to be sued from anyone ranging from celebrities to ordinary citizens.

A Judge in San Jose has quashed the company's attempt to dismiss the first case against Facebook - where users are alleged to have been "economically injured" by the site's use of the "Like" button for advertising.

Facebook introduced the feature that enabled users to "Like" products that was used in tandem with winning prizes or even bonuses in online games, which according to Zuckerberg was "a trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising."

US District Judge Lucy Koh argued that the users will have to be entitled to some gain from commercial endorsements that emerges after someone chooses to "like" a certain product or interest on the site, according to the Mail. With the case still pending in court, Koh commented that such a claim "present novel issues of state law for which there is no binding authority."

Facebook was recently hit by issues of privacy and had just resolved a previous complaint by the US Federal Trade Commission over privacy issues. The complaint had alleged that in spite of promises that they would keep consumers' information on Facebook private, it had later allowed the data to be shared and made public.

Facebook has refused to make a comment with the investigation to continue, the newspaper added.

OneIndia News