LinkedIn Contacts – who owns them? The employer or employee?

LinkedIn Contacts – who owns them?  The employer or employee?

The legal question of the ownership of LinkedIn contacts is getting interesting.  Two of Australia’s leading legal recruitment companies are preparing for a court battle on this issue.

A Sydney-based legal recruiter, who left a top legal recruitment firm Naiman Clarke a few months ago to join another high-profile legal recruiter, Bill Yair, at Yair & Associates, is the person at the centre of the legal dispute.

The recruitment consultant, a former solicitor, had established over the years a wide network of contacts, and during her three-and-a-half years with Naiman Clarke built a large LinkedIn network. When she left Naiman Clarke, she took some time off, and then started work at Yair & Associates and updated her LinkedIn profile to show her new employer.  She then began to post jobs and items of interest to her network.

The recruitment consultant had standard post-employment restraint provisions dealing intellectual property, soliciting of clients and confidentiality in her employment contract with Naiman Clarke.  And, her employment contract also contained a clause requiring her to act in the best interests of Naiman Clarke at all times during her employment. 

The restraint conditions included a six-month restraint preventing her from soliciting Naiman Clarke clients or using its intellectual property, but LinkedIn or social media were not specifically mentioned.

When Naiman Clarke became aware that the recruitment consultant had posted jobs to her network, and had received a response from a candidate in it, it demanded she cease using her LinkedIn network until her restraint period of six-months was expired. Naiman Clarke then took action in the NSW Local Court seeking damages and enforcement of its restraint provisions.