Judge lets core privacy claims against Otter.ai move forward
A US federal judge allowed wiretap and biometric claims against Otter.ai to proceed. The ruling makes no finding that Otter broke the law.
On 13 August 2026, Judge Eumi K. Lee of the US District Court for the Northern District of California partly granted and partly denied Otter.ai's motion to dismiss a privacy case. The case, In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation, combines four proposed class actions filed in 2025.
According to UC Today and Recording Law, federal wiretap, California privacy and Illinois biometric claims survived. Claims under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a California computer access law and the Washington Privacy Act were dismissed, along with some intrusion claims. Most dismissals allow the plaintiffs to amend.
Otter argued that its assistant is a tool working for the meeting host, much like a tape recorder. The judge rejected that at this stage. The complaint plausibly alleges that Otter is a third party that keeps conversations and uses them for its own machine learning work.
This is an early ruling. It decides only whether the claims are detailed enough to continue. It does not find that Otter broke any law, and Otter denies unlawful interception. UC Today reported that an Otter spokesperson declined to comment.
Why it matters
Note-takers often join a call because one person connected a calendar. The other people on the call may have no account, no contract with the vendor and little idea where the recording goes.
The question the court left open is the important one. A tool that only serves its customer looks different from a vendor that also uses what it hears for its own purposes. Discovery may show which one applies here, and the answer could shape how other note-takers are judged.
What you can do
- Check whether a note-taker has been connected to your calendar, and whether it joins meetings on its own.
- Tell people on a call when an AI tool is recording, and let them object before it starts.
- Read how your note-taker uses recordings, including whether they help train models.
- Turn off automatic sharing of notes with all meeting guests.
- If you handle health, legal or personal matters, ask whether a note-taker should be in those calls at all.
- Ask a lawyer about consent rules where you and your participants are based. They differ by place, and this ruling does not settle them.
Sources
- UC Today: Otter.ai privacy lawsuit, core claims survive
- Recording Law: judge lets core privacy claims proceed
Source: UC Today