The_Narwhal
December 27th, 2011, 06:49 PM
A man is being sued for keeping Twitter followers that he attracted while working for a US mobile news website.
Noah Kravitz tweeted for Phonedog as @Phonedog_Noah, but later changed his username when he left the company - taking 17,000 followers with him.
The company is now seeking damages of $2.50 (£1.60) per user, per month - a total of $370,000.
Mr Kravitz said his former employer had given him permission to continue using the account after he left.
He told the New York Times that Phonedog had allowed him to make the account personal as long as he agreed to "tweet on their behalf from time to time".
The 17,000 followers, which have since risen to 22,000, had been built up by Mr Kravitz during his four years at the company where he worked as a blogger.
However, eight months later the company filed a lawsuit claiming that the account's followers were a customer list, and that it had invested "substantial" resources into building it.
In a written statement, it said: "The costs and resources invested by Phonedog Media into growing its followers, fans and general brand awareness through social media are substantial and are considered property of Phonedog Media.
"We intend to aggressively protect our customer lists and confidential information, intellectual property, trademark and brands."
Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16338040 (http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16338040)
This story shows how far some companies will go...
Noah Kravitz tweeted for Phonedog as @Phonedog_Noah, but later changed his username when he left the company - taking 17,000 followers with him.
The company is now seeking damages of $2.50 (£1.60) per user, per month - a total of $370,000.
Mr Kravitz said his former employer had given him permission to continue using the account after he left.
He told the New York Times that Phonedog had allowed him to make the account personal as long as he agreed to "tweet on their behalf from time to time".
The 17,000 followers, which have since risen to 22,000, had been built up by Mr Kravitz during his four years at the company where he worked as a blogger.
However, eight months later the company filed a lawsuit claiming that the account's followers were a customer list, and that it had invested "substantial" resources into building it.
In a written statement, it said: "The costs and resources invested by Phonedog Media into growing its followers, fans and general brand awareness through social media are substantial and are considered property of Phonedog Media.
"We intend to aggressively protect our customer lists and confidential information, intellectual property, trademark and brands."
Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16338040 (http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16338040)
This story shows how far some companies will go...