Roanoke Times suing former Va Tech beat writer for access to Twitter account

[TexasVet]

If the account is, indeed, the newspaper's property, then wouldn't they have access to change the password? And wouldn't the account be linked to a specific email address? I've seen much smaller newspaper have better control over their social media accounts.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Do you have to mention a specific amount, though, or do you just mention legal fees associated with the case, which they did? I would think it would be hard to have a specific fee since the case isn't done. Not a lawyer, so I'm not sure what the requirements are. Also, I'm fairly certain the company has a firm on retainer, but honestly don't know how that works.

A complaint will include a general request for the award of legal fees. If there is a law or a contract provision that provides for the award of them, it will usually be cited within the complaint. It is to be determined. A retainer is just a way to stay as a firm's client between matters and have them on call so a company doesn't have to look for a firm each time they are sued.

 

[Tweener]

If the account is, indeed, the newspaper's property, then wouldn't they have access to change the password? And wouldn't the account be linked to a specific email address? I've seen much smaller newspaper have better control over their social media accounts.

You would think so, right? What appears to have happened is the password and handle were changed over the years to make it exclusive to Bitter, and the paper didn't do anything about it at the time, which I think helps him in this case. Editors get comfortable with a reporter over several years and probably never imagined he'd hijack the account when he left, but here we are. Him changing the handle and password, and not sharing it with anybody on staff, was writing on the wall.

 

[Doc Holliday]

The company's going to get lots of money from this? Explain.

Haven't you heard? Twitter drives traffic, which drives subscriptions, which pays money. The suits have been telling you this for years. Frederick can tell you all about it.

 

[Doc Holliday]

If the account is, indeed, the newspaper's property, then wouldn't they have access to change the password? And wouldn't the account be linked to a specific email address? I've seen much smaller newspaper have better control over their social media accounts.

They would or they should. But who is not to say that Bitter didn't change the password and or email account?

 

[cake in the rain]

 

[franticscribe]

You might be right to a degree, but the point you seem to be avoiding is that for this argument to work, Bitter has to admit he doesn't own the rights to the Twitter account either.

The point you're missing completely is that BH Media brought the suit. The burden is on BH Media/The Roanoke Times to prove that it owns the social media account. That's a dubious proposition if the account originated at the V-P and was never the Roanoke Times' property to begin with. (That they were both owned by Landmark is practically irrelevant, except it explains Bitter's role working for both for a while).

Regardless, Bitter can easily assert ownership if it was never the Roanoke Times' property to begin with and the V-P has done nothing to assert its rights over it for an extended period of time (5 years under Virginia law).

 

[JRoyal]

The point you're missing completely is that BH Media brought the suit. The burden is on BH Media/The Roanoke Times to prove that it owns the social media account. That's a dubious proposition if the account originated at the V-P and was never the Roanoke Times' property to begin with. (That they were both owned by Landmark is practically irrelevant, except it explains Bitter's role working for both for a while).

Regardless, Bitter can easily assert ownership if it was never the Roanoke Times' property to begin with and the V-P has done nothing to assert its rights over it for an extended period of time (5 years under Virginia law).

Looks like the guy who originated the account is saying the V-P never even owned it. That would add a whole different wrinkle to this. I had assumed that Tucker passed it to the editors at the V-P, and they passed it to Bitter. If Tucker handed it straight to Bitter with no one between them, then that's an entirely different matter.

 

[JRoyal]

And I realize it would be up to BH to prove ownership. What I was saying was that making the argument you suggested would be giving ownership to the V-P. And most states have a process to claim abandoned property. Otherwise, it reverts to the state. If it's such a surefire thing that ownership wouldn't be transferred to Roanoke/BH without the paper trail, why would it go to Bitter without him filing for the unclaimed property? Does Virginia allow it to be claimed without anything being filed?

 

[Fredrick]

This seems kind of petty but is educational. What we have learned here is the owners/suits think the writer's Twitter account is valuable enough to sue. This is kind of bizarre to me. Anybody with common sense would at best think the verdict is still out on Twitter being an asset to newspapers. It is very very bizarre that newspaper suits think it's important to break news on another company's Website. I maintain the exposure individual writers receive on Twitter makes no money to speak of for the newspaper. Use of Twitter saves no jobs. Use of Twitter is very very inconsequential. I maintain newspaper execs concerning themselves with this case are incompetent boobs so to speak. Geez, suits, it's time for you to re-invent if you want to save your business. That means ... FIRING ALL SALESPEOPLE AND BRINGING IN REAL SALESPEOPLE to sell the print product again. It means immediately moving your printing operations back to your local newspaper and not some hub; adding 10 pages to the newspaper immediately; start covering high schools again and go out and sell newspapers to all the grannies and grandpas and mammas and daddies who will buy your product and get it delivered to read about such Johnnies and Julies in their families. Thanks for educating us, suits. You think suing this person over TWITTER is important. My gosh, no wonder we're all either getting fired this week or soon to be fired. Thanks for reading, folks. Fredrick doesn't mean to be an ass; I just have passionate feelings about the suits and their lack of knowledge.

 

[Moderator1]

forking suits!

 

[Doc Holliday]

This seems kind of petty but is educational. What we have learned here is the owners/suits think the writer's Twitter account is valuable enough to sue. This is kind of bizarre to me. Anybody with common sense would at best think the verdict is still out on Twitter being an asset to newspapers. It is very very bizarre that newspaper suits think it's important to break news on another company's Website. I maintain the exposure individual writers receive on Twitter makes no money to speak of for the newspaper. Use of Twitter saves no jobs. Use of Twitter is very very inconsequential. I maintain newspaper execs concerning themselves with this case are incompetent boobs so to speak. Geez, suits, it's time for you to re-invent if you want to save your business. That means ... FIRING ALL SALESPEOPLE AND BRINGING IN REAL SALESPEOPLE to sell the print product again. It means immediately moving your printing operations back to your local newspaper and not some hub; adding 10 pages to the newspaper immediately; start covering high schools again and go out and sell newspapers to all the grannies and grandpas and mammas and daddies who will buy your product and get it delivered to read about such Johnnies and Julies in their families. Thanks for educating us, suits. You think suing this person over TWITTER is important. My gosh, no wonder we're all either getting fired this week or soon to be fired. Thanks for reading, folks. Fredrick doesn't mean to be an ass; I just have passionate feelings about the suits and their lack of knowledge.

Don't apologize my friend. You're right on the money. Sometimes a bit extreme because of your passion, but the basis of your stance is valid.