By Michael Rubin, Scott Jones, Cooper Rekrut

On September 19, 2017, Judge Donato of the Northern District of California ruled on Defendant D-Link System Inc.’s (D-Link) Motion to Dismiss, which challenged claims by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that D-Link’s conduct constituted unfair and deceptive trade practices in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.

The FTC’s complaint alleges that D-Link failed to implement adequate data security with respect to router and IP cameras it marketed and sold to the public. According to the FTC’s complaint, D-Link’s router and IP cameras were susceptible to well-known exploits and other vulnerabilities that left consumers at risk of compromise by hackers. The FTC alleged that these practices were both deceptive (contrary to D-Link’s representations about the security of their products) and unfair (caused or were likely to cause substantial injury to consumers).