Nov 21 (Reuters) - Design software company Figma ( FIG )

was hit with a proposed class action in California federal court

on Friday for allegedly misusing its customers' designs to train

artificial intelligence models.

The lawsuit said the company used its customers' data and

intellectual property without permission to train its generative

AI tools, which according to the complaint led to San

Francisco-based Figma's ( FIG ) "sky-high valuation" in a $1.2 billion

initial public offering earlier this year.

Spokespeople for Figma ( FIG ) did not immediately respond to a

request for comment on the complaint.

"This case underscores a simple and important principle:

consumers and businesses have a right to ensure that their most

sensitive and proprietary data and unique creative works are not

being used to secretly train AI models," plaintiffs' attorney

Carter Greenbaum of Greenbaum Olbrantz said in a statement.

The lawsuit is one of a slew of cases brought against tech

companies over their use of content without permission to train

generative AI systems. Most of those lawsuits focus on copyright

infringement claims, unlike the Figma ( FIG ) lawsuit, which alleges the

company stole customer trade secrets and illegally accessed

their data.

Founded in 2012, Figma ( FIG ) provides cloud-based collaborative

design tools, with a roster of marquee clients including

Alphabet, Microsoft and Netflix. Figma ( FIG ) has also partnered with

OpenAI to integrate its app into ChatGPT.

Firms like Figma ( FIG ) are racing to integrate generative AI tools

that automate tasks like image creation, layout suggestion and

code generation. According to the lawsuit, Figma ( FIG ) automatically

opted users into allowing the company to use their data to train

its AI software without informing them or receiving permission.

"For years Figma ( FIG ) promised its customers that Figma ( FIG ) would not

use their data for its own purposes, including to train its AI

models," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said the value of Figma ( FIG ) users' intellectual

property is "reasonably measured in the tens or hundreds of

billions of dollars." The plaintiffs requested an unspecified

amount of monetary damages and a court order permanently

blocking Figma ( FIG ) from using AI models that violate its customers'

rights.

The case is Khan v. Figma Inc ( FIG ), U.S. District Court for the

Northern District of California, No. 3:25-cv-10054.

For the proposed class: Carter Greenbaum and Casey Olbrantz

of Greenbaum Olbrantz; Tina Wolfson, Robert Ahdoot and Theodore

Maya of Ahdoot & Wolfson; Joseph Delich and Kyle Roche of

Freedman Normand Friedland

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)