A dispute over who owns twitter account goes to court
Dec 31, 2011
Source: REUTERS

NEW YORK: How much is a tweet worth? And how much does a Twitter follower cost? In base economic terms, the value of individual Twitter updates seems to be negligible; after all, what is a Twitter post but a few bits of data sent caroming through the Internet? But in a world where social media's influence can mean the difference between a lucrative sale and another fruitless cold call, social media accounts have taken on added significance. The question is: Can a company cash in on, and claim ownership of, an employee's social media account, and if so, what does that mean for workers who are increasingly posting to Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus during work hours? A lawsuit filed in July could provide some answers. 
In October 2010, Noah Kravitz, a writer who lives in Oakland, Calif., quit his job at a popular mobile phone site, Phonedog.com, after nearly four years. The site has two parts - an e-commerce wing, which sells phones, and a blog. While at the company, Kravitz, 38, began writing on Twitter under the name Phonedog(USCORE)Noah, and over time, had amassed 17,000 followers. When he left, he said, PhoneDog told him he could keep his Twitter account in exchange for posting occasionally. The company asked him to "tweet on their behalf from time to time and I said sure, as we were parting on good terms," Kravitz said by telephone. And so he began writing as NoahKravitz, keeping all his followers under that new handle. But eight months after Kravitz left the company, PhoneDog sued, saying the Twitter list was a customer list, and seeking damages of $2.50 a month per follower for eight months, for a total of $340,000. PhoneDog Media declined to comment for this article except for this statement: "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 LLC. We intend to aggressively protect our customer lists and confidential information, intellectual property, trademark and brands." Kravitz said the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, was in retaliation for his claim to 15 percent of the site's gross advertising revenue because of his position as a vested partner, as well as back pay related to his position as a video reviewer and blogger for the site. The lawsuit, though, could have broader ramifications than its effect on Kravitz and the company. "This will establish precedent in the online world, as it relates to ownership of social media accounts," said Henry J. Cittone, a lawyer in New York who litigates intellectual property disputes. "We've actually been waiting to see such a case as many of our clients are concerned about the ownership of social media accounts vis-a-vis their branding." 
Cittone added that a particularly important wrinkle is what value the court might set on the worth of one Twitter follower to a media company, saying the price set could affect future cases involving ownership of social media.

Yahoo! hits back at Singapore's SPH over copyright
Dec 31, 2011
Source: ET News

SINGAPORE: US Internet giant Yahoo! on Tuesday rejected allegations of copyright infringement by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and issued a counterclaim against the leading Asian publisher. 
"The company denies all allegations of wrongful copyright infringement by SPH," Yahoo! Southeast Asia said in a press statement. "Amongst other things, Yahoo! Southeast Asia highlighted the fundamental principle that copyright law does not protect facts and information. "In addition, there is an important public interest issue in respect of the right of the public to be informed of news and current events in Singapore." In its counterclaim, Yahoo! said SPH reproduced without authorisation several Yahoo! articles and pictures on STOMP, a citizen-journalism website owned by SPH. Last month, SPH -- publisher of the Straits Times newspaper and other dailies -- said it was suing Yahoo! for copyright infringement, accusing the California-based web group of reproducing its news items without permission. SPH wants Yahoo! to pay unspecified damages for infringement. Yahoo! is one of the top online sources of news in Singapore along with the the Breaking News section of the Straits Times website, both of which can be accessed free of charge. Both are competing for online advertising revenues from Singaporean and foreign companies along with Microsoft's MSN, which has a news tie-up with Singaporean broadcasting-based group MediaCorp. SPH is one of Asia's biggest media-based groups, with a near monopoly of Singapore's daily newspaper market and prime property assets. Group revenue in its financial year ending August 31 was down 9.4 percent from a year ago at Sg$1.25 billion ($959 million), but revenue from its newspaper and magazine business was up four percent at Sg$1.01 billion, according to the SPH annual report.

Facebook launches tool to report suicidal behavior
Dec 31, 2011
SOURCE: PTI

Facebook launched a new suicide prevention tool on Tuesday, giving users a direct link to an online chat with counselors who can help, the company said. Friends are able to report suicidal behavior by clicking a report option next to any piece of content on the site and choosing suicidal content under the harmful behavior option, Facebook spokesman Frederic Wolens said. Facebook will then email the user in distress a direct link for a private online chat with a crisis representative from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline as well as the group's phone number. The new tool gives people who may not be comfortable picking up the phone a direct avenue to seek help. 
"This was a natural progression from something we've been working on for a long time," Wolens said. Users also have the ability to report suicidal behavior by going to the site's Help Center or search for suicide reporting forms. They can also use reporting links around the site. Worried friends who reported the behavior will also receive a message to say it is being addressed, Wolens said. Facebook, the most popular Web-based social networking site, has more than 800 million active users worldwide. The Palo Alto, California-based company was co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. The new suicide reporting tool will be made available to people who use Facebook in the United States and Canada. Wolens said that all reporting on the site is done anonymously and so a distressed user will not know who reported the suicidal content. Nearly 100 Americans die by suicide every day, according to the Surgeon General of the United States. In the past year, more than 8 million Americans 18 or older had thought seriously about suicide, according to a blog post by the Surgeon General accompanying the release of the new Facebook tool.