The mobile phone company Phonedog.com has sued one of its former employees, Noah Kravitz, in a California federal court under the allegation that Kravitz violated trade-secrets law when he continued to use a Twitter account which included approximately 17,000 followers Kravitz amassed while working for Phonedog.

Phonedog is arguing that Kravtiz’s Twitter account qualifies as a customer list under trade-secrets law and is therefore company property. Trade-secrets law would prohibit a non-employee’s personal use of a customer list. Phonedog seeks damages of $2.50 a month per follower for eight months ($340,000 total). Furthermore, the company is asking the court to bar Kravitz from continued use of the account.

Many employers have encountered issues with former employees accessing work-related social media accounts and are anxiously awaiting a ruling. Legal experts believe the outcome will hinge on ascertaining the purpose for which the account was created. If the court finds that Phonedog commissioned the account to communicate with existing customers and to gain new customers, then Phonedog is more likely to prevail.

To read more about case, check out the following piece on it from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/technology/lawsuit-may-determine-who-owns-a-twitter-account.html?_r=1