Journalist Sues Grammarly For Misappropriating Her Identity
Journalist Julia Angwin has sued Superhuman’s Grammarly for allegedly misappropriating her identity — along with the identities of hundreds of other writers — for a paid service that claimed to critique consumers’ writing by “applying ideas from” well-known authors.
“Contrary to the apparent belief of some tech companies, it is unlawful to appropriate peoples’ names and identities for commercial purposes, whether those people are famous or not,” Angwin alleges in a class-action complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Grammary’s $12-a-month “expert review” tool, which launched in August, allegedly told users it would read their text, find “experts” to review it, and then critique it by applying “ideas” from those experts — including Angwin, best-selling writer Stephen King, journalist Kara Swisher, and former Federal Trade Commission member Julie Brill.
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