Comments on: Shared assets: Who owns your LinkedIn network?

By: Scott W

Scott W — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:57:21 +0000

Great article. This very same topic was discussed a few years ago when LinkedIn was identified as the social media tool both I and the Company wanted to use. No case law existed on who owned the network and it was assumed the network went with the person. Today, most people I talk with feel the network goes with the person.

It will be interesting what the US Courts will decide when faced with this type of case.

Take care

Scott

By: Troy Janisch

Troy Janisch — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:46:46 +0000

@daryl I first learned about the UK case at Bombay Crow — although I’ve seen several other references…including mashable.

Here’s the original URL:

http://www.bombaycrow.com/web/who_owns_your_online_networking_contacts/

By: Daryl Mather

Daryl Mather — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:32:49 +0000

I cannot find any reference of this court case. Do you have any links to stories about it?

Thanks,

Daryl Mather

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:05:41 +0000

It will be interesting to see if/when this hits the U.S. court system how this is handled. I tend to believe the user owns the network, not the employer. But companies that get out in front of this situation set themselves up for better experiences when replacing well-networked employees.

By: Nate Warnke

Nate Warnke — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:19:21 +0000

This type of issue never occured to me with regard to LinkedIn. I always viewed LinkedIn as my contacts, not the company’s. Prior to reading this, I viewed LinkedIn as a way to expand and use networking more effectively, but I view it the same as if I had a Roll-a-dex of phone numbers for my network. The company wouldn’t own my personal Roll-a-dex, why would they own my LinkedIn contacts? This is definitely food for thought.