ZL Technologies has lost the first round in its legal challenge against Gartner Group's use of its "Magic Quadrant" classification of tech companies.

Brian Tarran at Research. reports:

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 opinion". ZL had argued that its placement in the reports was derogatory "because they are understood by technology purchasers as a warning, by Gartner, that ZL and the ZL products are not good choices for enterprise email archive applications".

ZL has 30 days to file an amended complaint. It had asked for damages of $132m.

ZL had the backing of many tech companies who believe that to get a good placement in the "Magic Quadrant" they need to spend large sums to become a Gartner client.

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Please see: Gartner in the dock over Magic Quadrant | Irregular Enterprise | ZDNet.com