November 17, 2011, 4:36 PM — Here's an odd story: An employer asked its departing employee to give it back the Twitter account he'd been using while employed. He said no, so the employer sued him for $340,000. Say what? It's The Long View...
We already know that you can't stop employees' free speech on Facebook. It also appears that LinkedIn contacts can be treated as trade secrets in some jurisdictions.
But this employer wants its ex-employee to hand over the password to his Twitter account, and pay damages of $2.50 per month for each of its 17,000 followers. The eight months between the end of the employment and the lawsuit account for the total of $340,000. Yes, three hundred and forty thousand dollars.
Ludicrous? Absolutely. But read on...
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