Who owns linkedin contacts

If this were an employer. They want to put them on garden leave. I can see that one working well. Seamus, any advice on this particular one? Seamus: I think this is a common occurrence now for employers. Employers will seek to protect their business, essentially. They are looking at this presumption of being placed on garden leave.

The interesting aspect is really around these contacts, these 1, contacts they have on LinkedIn. This really is an interesting question. There are a couple of cases that have been dealt with going back even as far as , but the real crux of this matter will come down to what the contract says and really whether or not the contract provides for restrictive covenants and what it says about your business contacts and the ability for you to be able to contact those contacts.

It puts the employer in a very weak position. So, it depends. Hopefully, they might want to come back and seek advice off of you. Scott: Part of your job as a professional is to go out there and bring in money.

You're a peer. Seamus: Yes. I went and made 10 contacts. I put them into LinkedIn and I have now got associations with them. My colleague went and made no contacts whatsoever. Scott: Probably busy listening to the speakers at Legal Island is what they were doing, doing their job.

That's what they were doing. There were also restrictive covenants that prohibited soliciting candidates and clients, including prospective candidates and clients. The LinkedIn contacts raised problems.

Additionally, what if an employee keeps their contact list on LinkedIn and nowhere else? Does the employer own the LinkedIn contact list? Do they have a right to access the LinkedIn contact list? An employee can argue that they own their LinkedIn account information and the employer has no right of access to their account. LinkedIn operates in a way that makes restrictive covenants difficult to enforce.

When an employee moves to a competitor they update their LinkedIn details. Their connections learn of this status change. Arguably, however, this is not a targeted request to do business that would amount to a breach of a normal non-solicitation clause. Employees should use a dedicated Linkedin account during their employment. Thus, both employer and employee agree that all contacts and connections belong to the company. Our client introduced new performance measures, that were based on clients and candidates generated on LinkedIn.

Our client defined required LinkedIn account settings. Employees signed agreements giving the employer a right of access or password control. This allowed the employer to gain control of the LinkedIn account when the employee left.

But employers should be wary that overly stringent policies or restrictive covenants could backfire. Unreasonable terms may not be enforced, while rumours of nasty policy may spread rapidly through social media world. Instead, employers should impose reasonable restrictions on post-employment conduct. What can an employee do to retain their contacts? Leaning toward the side of caution may be best for employees seeking to retain their connections.

Avoid adding company contacts your social media profile unless you have a direct connection, or a genuine reason to connect. For employer connections that become your own, you should keep details of your introduction to establish that you connected in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of your employer. Given that the requirement for social media policies is relatively new, it may also be possible for you to negotiate the terms with a prospective employer. Not only would this jeopardise your professional connections once you leave, but this type of free riding could also amount to trade mark infringement, passing off under the common law, or misleading and deceptive conduct under the Australian Consumer Law.

Conclusion Ultimately, companies should accept that when employees leave, they take connections with them. While collaborative social networking can benefit the reputations of employers and professionals alike, the reality is that disputes over connections are inevitable.