The London High Court has ordered a former
Hays Specialist Recruitment employee to disclose business
contacts added to his
LinkedIn social networking site account before leaving the
company.
The case is the first to highlight the tension between the
business benefits of using social networks and the risks they pose
to employer's intellectual property.
Hays alleges that consultant Mark Ions used LinkedIn to steal
business contacts for use in his own company, Exclusive Human
Resources, which he set up before resigning from Hays last
year.
The recruitment firm went to the high court to get a disclosure
order to examine the evidence to see whether it has a case against
Ions for breach of confidentiality.
A
court
judgment ordered Ions to disclose his LinkedIn business
contacts and all e-mails sent to or received by his LinkedIn
account from the Hays computer network, but stopped short of
requiring him to disclose his entire database of clients, as
requested by Hays.
Ions said Hays had encouraged his use of LinkedIn, and when
contacts had accepted his invitation to join his network visible to
other contacts, they had ceased to be confidential.
Phillip Carnell, an associate at law firm CMS Cameron McKenna,
said it was important for employers to ensure company employment
contracts and internet-use policies are up to date and reflected
technological changes in the business environment.
He said these documents should make specific reference to the
use of social networking sites and put clear obligations on
employees to delete contacts when they leave.
Alternatively, companies could be proactive by requiring
employees to set up business-only accounts that remain with the
company.
Carnell said Hays could take several months to consider the
information it receives before deciding whether or not to go to a
full hearing and claim damages for loss of confidential
information, and then it could take up to a year for the trial to
begin.
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