ZL Technologies files amended complaint against Gartner

This information was provided originally as a comment to an existing blog post. It is being promoted to a full blog post to ensure that the news receives proper attention.

Tip o’ the hat to Rob Elliott of ZL Technologies for this update…

On December 4, 2009, ZL Technologies filed an amended complaint against Gartner, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The Court granted ZL the opportunity to clarify and augment our earlier allegations of defamation and trade libel.

In the first round of ZL’s legal dispute with Gartner, Gartner argued to the Court that its rankings and other statements in the proprietary “Magic Quadrant Reports” are merely opinions that are not based upon fact, and that they are understood as such by the readers of those reports. However, Gartner’s

Gartner won dismissal of ZL lawsuit, but ZL can file an amended complaint

This dismissal by the judge hearing the case does not mean the issue has been settled as ZL Technologies can pursue other legal options.

Related SageCircle posts:

• Gartner Statement about the ZL Technologies lawsuit
• This not the first time that Gartner has been sued nor will it be the last

From the Research Magazine website: Round one goes to Gartner in libel battle

5 November 2009 | By Brian Tarran

Gartner has succeeded in dismissing a libel complaint brought by a software company angry at being described as a ‘niche’ player – though the vendor has been granted leave to file an amended complaint.

District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel agreed with the IT analyst’s argument that its Magic Quadrant reports and the positioning of ZL Technologies in the ‘niche’ quadrant constituted “non-actionable

This not the first time that Gartner has been sued nor will it be the last

Software vendor ZL Technologies has sued Gartner, Inc. about the impact of the firm’s research on its business (see the court documents on its website). Needless to say, this has gotten the attention of twits and bloggers. Here are two example blog posts 

• Blog post critical of Gartner – Dennis Howlett in his ZDnet blog post Gartner in the dock over Magic Quadrant
• Blog post addressing the potential for sour grapes on the part of the vendor – Dave Kellogg in his Mark Logic blog post Gartner Sued Over Magic Quadrant for Alleged Damages of $132M plus Punitives of $1.3B

There are legitimate criticisms about any particular firm’s research methodology, whether a standalone piece of research or a recurring research deliverable like IDC’s market share models or Aberdeen Axis. SageCircle, vendors, and others have certainly given Gartner suggestions for improving the Magic Quadrant in private meetings, on blog posts, and in public forums like the Gartner Quarterly AR Call. And to be fair, Gartner has tweaked its methodology a little for the Magic Quadrant over the years, but probably more in response to the Forrester Wave than what they hear from the vendors.

There is also the issue that many technology buyers who use the Magic Quadrant as an input to decision making do not know how to