TechnesstivityPhoneDog Vs. Noah Kravitz: Who Owns Twitter Followers?
Blogger Noah Kravitz is being sued by his former employer PhoneDog for 17,000 Twitter followers. PhoneDog says his Twitter followers are a customer list and are seeking damages of $2.50 per follower. Leading to a total of $340,000.
Noah Kravitz left mobile phone site PhoneDog.com in 2010 and had been writing under the Twitter username @PhoneDog_Noah. When he left PhoneDog said he could keep the followers he had amassed while working at the company. Kravitz told New York Times the company asked him to “tweet on their behalf from time to time and I said sure, as we were parting on good terms,”
Fast forward to 2011, PhoneDog says
“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 L.L.C. We intend to aggressively protect our customer lists and confidential information, intellectual property, trademark and brands.”
Noah Kravitz says the lawsuit is a retaliation for his claim to 15% of the site’s gross advertising revenue as a vested partner, as well as a blogger and video reviewer for PhoneDog.
If Kravitz loses this lawsuit and pays damages of $340,000, it could set a price for Twitter followers in future lawsuits. The question is does PhoneDog own the followers on the @NoahKravitz(formerly PhoneDog_Noah) account or not? Also was the account opened for PhoneDog or for Noah?
Who do you think owns the followers? Pleave us a comment.
Source: Mashable via New York Times
They are Noah's followers