The LinkedIn Lawsuit - Follow Up
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A few months ago I profiled a non-compete/non-solicit lawsuit where the Plaintiff employer used LinkedIn communications as evidence to support their claims against several former employee recruiters. The case was covered in a number of media outlets and blogs.
In the interim the Defendants answered the lawsuit and filed a counterclaim. Here's what the counterclaim alleged:
- Representatives of the employer told one employee that he could continue to work in the recruiting industry as long as he didn't call on the Plaintiff's customers;
- The non-compete agreements are unenforceable; and
- The Plaintiff is tortiously interfering with their new employment agreements.
In their answer, the Defendants allege that what the Plaintiff claims is confidential customer information was publicly disclosed through social media and is no longer protected:
Plaintiff’s claims that relate in anyway to customer and/or client information fail to the extent that Plaintiff, or its employees, have thrust said information into the public domain through the use of sites such as, LinkedIn and Facebook, and/or to
the extent Plaintiff encouraged its employees to place said information into the public domain.
The case is set for trial in August 2011. We'll keep you posted on any further developments.
Thank you for this helpful information.