COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) An Online company has prosecuted among its former employees, saying the staff member cost the organization 1000's of dollars in lost business as he required 17,000 Twitter fans with him as he left the firm.
PhoneDog LLC filed a suit in This summer against Noah Kravitz, a author who labored for that Mount Enjoyable, S.C., company from 2006 until this past year. Lawyers for that website, which reviews mobile products like phones and pills, stated Kravitz owes them $340,000.
The organization stated when Kravitz resigned, he transformed his Twitter title from PhoneDog-Noah to noahkravitz, and stored his 17,000 fans. The organization stated the fans ought to be treated just like a customer list, and for that reason PhoneDog s property.
PhoneDog stated Kravitz should pay $2.50 per follower monthly for eight several weeks, or a maximum of $340,000.
Steve O Donnell, a patent and intellectual property attorney, stated he hadn t heard about an identical situation. He doubted that every follower may be worth the $2.50.
On Twitter, should you spend time lengthy enough, you ll get 100s of follows from those who are just gathering accounts and broadcasting their very own content individuals who aren t always having to pay focus on anything PhoneDog needs to say, stated O Donnell, who practices law in Lancaster, Pa. Twitter fans can appear and disappear. This is very transient. This is likely to be hard to allow them to put $ 1 number on something which s so ethereal.
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Kravitz, who now lives in Concord, Calif., eventually began for any competitor website and today boasts nearly 24,000 Twitter fans.
In the court documents, Kravitz stated he used the Twitter account under consideration mostly for private musings about sporting occasions and popular culture and, after departing the organization, even sent messages at PhoneDog s behest about the organization s contests and free gifts. Kravitz stated he sent such messages as lately as December 2010 which PhoneDog only objected to his utilisation of the account after he prosecuted them in June for delinquent wages within an ongoing situation.
Only next will they emerge from the woodwork the very first time and say, `Hey, you converted our property, Cary Kletter, Kravitz s attorney, stated Thursday. That situation is without merit.
PhoneDog s valuation is problematic and inflated, he stated.
To assert they re titled to $2.50 per follower monthly defies reason, Kletter stated. In the event that s the situation, Kim Kardashian s account would most likely be worth vast amounts of dollars of the year.
Celebs could possibly get taken care of tweets, sometimes $10,000 or even more per publish.
Erik Heels, a patent and trademark attorney in Boston, stated the suit may give a financial determination, however the best outcome might be in assisting companies in establishing their very own social networking recommendations.
The lesson for companies would be to make certain you define this stuff ahead of time for the employees, Heels stated. Do not make any presumptions since you may finish on the incorrect side from the suit.
A hearing within the situation is placed for the following month in Bay Area. A lawyer for PhoneDog leader Tom Klein didn't immediately react to a note seeking comment.
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