In a significant legal victory, Estee Lauder and its renowned cosmetics brands, including Bobbi Brown, Smashbox, and Too Faced, have successfully thwarted a proposed class action challenging the compliance of their virtual «try-on» tool with Illinois’ biometric privacy law. The lawsuit, dismissed by U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins in Chicago, alleged a lack of user warnings regarding the collection of biometric information. The judge’s decision highlighted the plaintiffs’ failure to provide evidence linking facial scans to customer identities.
The lawsuit, filed under Illinois’ robust Biometric Information Privacy Act, claimed Estee Lauder and its brands neglected to inform users about biometric data collection through virtual try-on tools on their websites. These tools enable users to virtually test cosmetics using photos or live camera feeds. The Taiwanese company, Perfect Corp, responsible for the technology, was also named in the lawsuit.
Judge Jenkins emphasized the plaintiffs’ inability to demonstrate how Estee Lauder could connect facial scans from virtual try-on widgets to individuals’ actual identities. Additionally, Perfect Corp was dismissed from the lawsuit due to insufficient ties to Illinois for legal action.
Representatives for the involved parties, including customers, Estee Lauder, and Perfect Corp, did not immediately respond to comment requests.
Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, recognized for its stringent regulations on biometric data handling, empowers individuals to sue over such mishandling. This legal outcome follows a series of lawsuits and substantial settlements under this law, including Meta Platforms’ Facebook agreeing to a $650 million settlement in 2020 over a BIPA class action involving facial recognition software. Meta Platforms denied any wrongdoing in that case.
