US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn, New York,
federal court said in her 67-page order that Phhhoto Inc had failed to timely
bring its claims under relevant US antitrust law that sets a four-year window
and under New York state competition provisions that have a three-year statute
of limitation.
"Phhhoto has failed in its 69-page amended complaint of
222 paragraphs to allege sufficient facts that cure the untimeliness of all of
its federal claims," Matsumoto wrote. She said, "no exception applies
to toll the limitations periods."
The court declined to allow Phhhoto to fine-tune its case
and bring another complaint.
Lawyers for Phhhoto at plaintiffs' firm Hausfeld did not
immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Thursday.
In a statement, a Meta spokesperson described the suit as
"meritless."
Phhhoto launched in 2014, providing an app that said it
"created a five-frame, looping video." Meta two years earlier had
acquired photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion.
Phhhoto's lawsuit, filed in 2021, alleged Facebook aimed to
"crush" the photo-sharing application, which called itself in court
filings "an innovative nascent competitor."
"Meta used its control of critical infrastructure to
degrade the quality of Phhhoto's content and the performance of its app, as
well as to mislead and harm consumers," Phhhoto's attorneys told the
court.
Facebook denied any anticompetitive conduct.
The case was among several actions accusing Facebook of
violating competition law.
Facebook is defending against claims from the US Federal
Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., federal court that the company abused its
personal social networking dominance. © Reuters
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