How Not To Get Sued: Legal Issues Affecting Social Networking
Posted 2/10/2012 11:09:00 AM

Goldberg

Kevin M. Goldberg is a member of the law firm of Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth, P.L.C., will focus on some of the legal problems accompanying the increasing use of social media by editors, reporters and other employees of media entities that are making this a regular part of their jobs, as well as some of the measures you can take to limit your potential liability.

The first half of the presentation will focus on some of the early lawsuits or legal controversies involving social media that generally lacks editorial oversight.  Whether it’s a blog, an official Twitter account, a personal Facebook page (or vice-versa), your publication might be held liable for any number of issues, including defamation, copyright or trademark infringement or even things you might generally not consider to be problems, like violation of the FTC’s endorsement guidelines. 

The second half will focus on what you can do to protect yourself.  Learn about language you can include on your website to limit liability from content posted by 3rd parties  and what actions you might be able to take – and, more importantly, actions you cannot take – against an employee who threatens your company’s image via a caustic Tweet or Facebook post.

Specifically, you will learn about:

• The current legal controversy over “ownership” of a Twitter feed.
• The very simple way to protect yourself from copyright infringement liability for content posted by commenters to your blogs or website.
• How you might be able to amend or edit your employee procedure manual or handbook to make sure that Tweeting employees don’t tarnish the company’s image.