ZL calls Gartner stance on libel suit ‘misleading’

On Friday the California Northern District Court heard a motion from Gartner to dismiss ZL’s claim, but the judge did not reach a decision.

Gartner argued that the content of its reports constitute “non-actionable opinion”, but ZL said that this amounts to Gartner claiming its reports are “pure opinion, namely, opinions not based on fact”, and that this is “misleading to enterprises which expect better from Gartner than mere opinions-not-based-on-fact to resolve serious IT problems”.

A Gartner representative told Research today that the firm considered ZL’s complaint to be “completely without merit”. “While we regret that ZL Technologies is dissatisfied with its location in the Magic Quadrant [a model used by Gartner to categorise companies], we remain committed to providing our clients with independent research and advice about the products that we cover.”