Last week, we begin exploring the next wave of social media disputes between employers and employees — just who owns an account that an employee sets up and maintains to promote his employer? This week, employment law attorney Sara Hutchins Jodka looks at a few cases that have the potential to shape this debate.
By Sara Hutchins Jodka
With the onslaught of social networking tools, it’s no wonder that social media has become an increasingly popular litigation topic for employers. Courts began addressing the issue by deciding whether social media can be used in lawsuits and whether employees can be terminated because of their Internet postings. Now, the new wave of social media-related litigation is upon us: the fight between employers and employees over who owns social media accounts. More specifically, who owns Twitter “followers,” LinkedIn “connections,” Facebook “friends” or “likes,” and whatever else Silicon Valley has in store?
The issue is pertinent for the increasing number of companies that have a social media presence and update the public on their latest services, products, press releases, events, sales, and the like through Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or other social media. With the number of companies that have a social media presence vastly expanding, more companies will employ people to do their social media marketing for them. This is where potential problems arise, and you can learn from the misfortune of others. read more…