hiQ Labs Inc., a new employment tech firm, sued professional network giant LinkedIn for abuse of its market power. Specifically, the startup-alleged LinkedIn blocked its access to public information.

This month, U.S. Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California took a huge bite out of the case, saying hiQ’s definition of the people analytics market was vague. Antitrust plaintiffs need to be precise in defining markets and, in this case, hiQ missed the mark.

Judge Chen also ruled that LinkedIn was not shielded from the antitrust and interference claims by the Noerr-Pennington doctrine nor the California litigation privilege.

The judge gave hiQ an opportunity to amend its theories of unilateral refusal to deal and essential facilities doctrine claims.

Read the opinion: hiQ Labs, Inc. v. Linkedin Corporation, 3_17-cv-03301, No. 158 (N.D.Cal. Sep. 9, 2020)