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

Bitter now works for The Athletic and has 27,000 followers:

The Roanoke Times is suing its former Hokies football reporter over Twitter handle

The lawsuit alleges that Bitter was requested to turn over control of his Twitter account for the next Roanoke Times Virginia Tech reporter to use, but he did not do so.

The lawsuit cites the precedent that Bitter had inherited the handle from the previous reporter, Kyle Tucker, and that Bitter signed acknowledgement of the company handbook which stated that the account was company property. At the time Tucker handed the account over to Bitter, the paper was a part of Landmark Media Enterprises. It was sold to BH Media in 2013.

 

Not sure how it works, but couldn't Bitter just move those followers over to a new account? It isn't like the next reporter won't have to do so, unless his name is also Andy Bitter.

 

Talk about a perfect last name for a profession.

 

No. That's not what's being discussed here. It isn't about the AndyBitterVT name. It's about the actual account. The login creds. You can change your handle, but the followers stay. You can't just transfer over followers when you create a new Twitter account with the AndyBitterVT name. Followers are linked to specific login info, no matter if handles are changed in the meantime.

The paper is claiming they own the login creds.

 

Seems there's an easy solution here. The newspaper keeps the account that has the followers. The writer keeps the handle (the newspaper can't use his name in the handle, anyway).

 

Maybe not quite that simple. The account with the followers is a valuable commodity. The writer wants the followers to promote his new gig -- which is in direct competition with his former employer. The newspaper wants to keep them for its new beat writer, who would inherit the account -- with 27,000 ready-made followers rather than having to build from zero.

 

This will be an interesting case, especially since it wasn’t Bitter’s account to start.

It also amazes me in a way that login credentials are sue-able

 

Suit claims the account is worth $150,000

https://deadspin.com/the-roanoke-times-is-suing-its-former-reporter-over-ref-1828169680

 

If the followers are there because they want to read Bitter's tweets, couldn't he just open a new account and send out 1,000 tweets -- unfollow
this account, follow this account.

 

That's part of the issue. He has been and apparently is continuing to promote his stuff for the Athletic -- a direct competitor -- on the account BH claims it owns. The lawsuit is seeking a temporary restraining order to stop Bitter from doing that, citing (according to the Roanoke Times story) state and federal laws prohibiting, among other things, "theft of trade secrets and unfair competition."

 

If he was handed the account and acknowledged it was company property, how does he have a leg to stand on?