Go ahead. Let yourself enjoy Pinterest. Pinterest is a pinboard styled social photo sharing website on which people can share what they find interesting and connect with people in the United States and abroad. Relatively new, this social media network is extremely popular. In August 2011, Time magazine listed Pinterest on its “50 Best Websites of 2011” column. More recently, Mashable reported that Pinterest is a “top driver for retailers.” Pinterest also has an app for iPhone, and a mobile website. Consequently, it would be a shame for professionals and businesses to shy away from Pinterest because there are some …
read moreMichelle Sherman
This monthly Social Media and the Law column is contributed by Michelle Sherman. Michelle is Of Counsel at Slater, Hersey & Lieberman LLP in Southern California where she is a litigation attorney representing businesses. Michelle also advises businesses on the legal issues surrounding the use of social media by them and their employees, and is the editor and author of the Social Media Law Applied blog.
Michelle Sherman's Posts
While many people have been hoping to get some resolution to the question of who owns the followers of a Twitter account from the ongoing litigation between PhoneDog and its former employee Noah Kravitz, this federal case in the Northern District of California is unlikely to provide clear answers. The district court has recently held that PhoneDog can pursue its action for misappropriation of trade secrets and tortious interference with economic relationships based on new allegations concerning the alleged disruption of PhoneDog’s relationship with its advertisers. Thus, the dispute is moving away from who owns the Twitter account. The original …
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“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is a very fitting description for what businesses are learning when they do not have their social media presence reviewed by a social media law attorney. Here are a few examples of what businesses have had to pay as a result of not complying with the law in this area (which is admittedly a work in process with offline rules being a useful guide): 1. A non-profit company, Hispanics Union of Buffalo, Inc. (“HUB”) was ordered to rehire 5 employees that it fired for complaining about a co-worker on Facebook, …
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