Who owns my LinkedIn contacts?

The data held in a LinkedIn account is personal to the account user as made clear in the user agreement. Each user can have only one account and no part of that account e.g. connections, groups can be transferred to anyone else.

However if the data is misused then there are circumstances where an employer can claim ownership or at least some influence over how that data is used.

Last week I was invited by Mark Williams to discuss this topic on his popular LinkedIn podcast - see link at the bottom of this post. 

The discussion was prompted by an article written by a partner in a leading law firm which referred to a recent legal case where a Birmingham recruitment agency successfully won injunctions to stop three former employees using their LinkedIn accounts to solicit business. The article also referred to two previous and oft quoted cases involving a recruitment company and a publishing firm.

In these earlier cases it seems clear that employees had deliberately planned to use information obtained in the course  of their employment to help start their own businesses.

What was concerning in the latest case was that the employer had required his staff to sign over ownership of their LinkedIn accounts as a condition of employment. This would seem to be a clear breach of the LinkedIn user agreement. Here is the press report about the Birmingham case. 

In her article about the case the law firm partner went on to make suggestions about how employers can protect themselves including:

• making sure that the details on the LinkedIn accounts show that this is a company and not an individual account
• including wording in your staff handbook that the company LinkedIn accounts are for company use only.
• securing an undertaking from the individual that the accounts will be used for company purposes only and not for personal use
• making clear that on termination of employment the individual ceases to have the right to use the company LinkedIn accounts.

It seems to me that this approach has a number of fundamental flaws. Apart from the fact that any organisation adopting this approach will instantly scare away the best talent, there is no such thing as a LinkedIn company account. The fact is you cannot delete a relationship. Even if a company succeeded in making an individual remove certain contacts what's to stop the individual reconnecting at a later point, even the next day.

Of course there will be circumstances where a company could argue that it has a claim to the data for example where an individual added the company mailing list to their LinkedIn account. It seems to me that these cases are already covered in a standard non-compete clause.

It is perfectly legitimate that an employer should want to protect themselves from inappropriate use of data by former employees. No one objects to this. I suggest however there are probably better ways to do this that will not destroy the goodwill of employees. In particular that there are a few simple steps that a business can take to safeguard its interest:

1. Make sure that contact details and relationship notes for key connections are held on the business's CRM system

2. Ensure that there is more than one designated admin for the LinkedIn company page and any groups the company owns and manages.

3. Develop a clear set of social media policy that clarifies how social media, including LinkedIn, should be used and what information is considered company confidential.

4. Include a restrictive covenant in the employment contract that provides reasonable protection for the employer without making unreasonable demands on the employee.

At the end of the day business operates on trust, between employer and employee and between customer and supplier. It is sensible for businesses to put some simple safeguards in place but these need to recognise that with the advent of the internet and social media businesses operate in a much more transparent world. A business person's network is as much a part of their value as their qualifications, if we try to take control of our employees contacts and networks this will almost always be counter productive.

You can listen to the full podcast discussion here (40 minutes). 

 Thank you for reading this article if you enjoyed it please like and share it so others can too. I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this topic in the comments.

The views in this article are my own and are not intended to be used as legal advice.

You can read my other LinkedIn posts here: 

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Greg Cooper is an independent LinkedIn consultant and trainer based in Bristol, UK. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing. For over twenty years Greg ran an award winning direct marketing agency working with leading technology companies like IBM, SAP, and Siemens. 

Today he works with SMEs and Business Units of larger companies. He runs public and in-house courses for business owners, managers and sales people including courses on social selling and employee advocacy. 

For an individual discussion of your business's needs call +44 (0)7917 360222. or email [email protected]  You can also follow Greg on Twitter

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