This week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals entertained an interlocutory appeal stemming from a Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) lawsuit.

No, movie rental is not the booming business it once was, thanks to online streaming services, but the VPPA – a federal law that keeps your video/DVD rental history private – is still being used in class action lawsuits.

A video provider who knowingly discloses a viewer’s personally identifiable information is liable to the aggrieved person for damages.

Redbox, a company that specializes in renting DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, and video games to consumers from automated retail kiosks, asked the Seventh Circuit to take an interlocutory appeal in a class action suit to determine whether the record destruction provision of the VPPA could be enforced by a VPPA lawsuit for damages.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the only prohibited act under the VPPA that warrants damages is disclosure of a viewer’s video information. A court can order a video provider to comply with the record destruction requirement, but a viewer cannot use a VPPA lawsuit to collect damages for record destruction requirement violations.

Consumers are clearly becoming aware of their rights under the VPPA; both Netflix and Redbox were sued last year for VPPA violations. If you have a client who wants to bring a VPPA lawsuit in a Seventh Circuit feeder court, inform your client that the appellate court recognizes VPPA damages for willful breaches of a viewer’s information, but not for record destruction violations.

Related Resources:

  • Redbox Automated Retail v. Kevin Sterk (Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals)
  • Netflix Lobbies to Change Video Privacy Law to Team with Facebook (FindLaw’s Technologist)
  • California Prop 8: Same-Sex Marriage, Lies, and Videotapes? (FindLaw’s Ninth Circuit Blog)
  • No Qualified Immunity: Deputy Loses Interlocutory Appeal (FindLaw’s Fifth Circuit Blog)

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