UK Court Rules that LinkedIn Contacts Can be Company Property

UK Court Rules that LinkedIn Contacts Can be Company Property

This is a fascinating read about social media and proprietary information as it relates to client lists. The assertion was made that an ex-employee's LinkedIn contacts, which the company initially advocated, constituted confidential property and that upon termination of his employment he could not maintain those contacts.

My question is, "How is a LinkedIn connection confidential when once the connection is made all previous connections, and future ones, then become known to each user?"

Here is a short snippet from the article:

"The High Court (in the UK) has confirmed that LinkedIn contacts can constitute confidential information belonging to an employer to which it has granted injunctive relief.

The problems for an organization attempting to assert ownership of LinkedIn contacts are well known. LinkedIn's terms and conditions say that ownership of the account is personal to the account holder.  Many companies attempt to claim ownership of accounts that are opened by employees during the course of their employment."

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=42339bd8-b466-4b37-8a30-15308a8129bf 

#socialmedia   #law   #intellectualproperty   #tfl