Alabama Employment Law Report : Alabama Employment Lawyer & Attorney : Daniel J. Burnick : Sirote & Permutt Law Firm

 Facebook, Inc. effective Saturday, June 13th, announced that users of the Facebook website will be allowed for the first time to create personalized URLs for their Facebook pages (facebook.com/yourname). There is a risk that some Facebook users will attempt to incorporate third party brands into their personalized Facebook usernames.

Facebook, Inc. has created an online form for rights owners of registered trademarks interested in preventing their trademarks from being registered as usernames by Facebook users.  Unfortunately, time to register your trademark has expired. 

Trademark owners, if there is an infringement on your trademark, can file their complaint on the Facebook platform by submitting relevant information to Facebook, Inc. through their trademark protection contact form. 

Practice Pointer.  If you have a registered trademark that you want to protect, I would recommend that you check Facebook on a regular basis in the event  someone else does is using your trademark. 

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Several weeks ago, I gave a presentation on behalf of Sterling Educational Services to a number of attorneys and HR professionals entitled "Employee Privacy In The Workplace".  I addressed a number of areas, including employee privacy, evaluating performance and employee off-duty misconduct.  During the presentation, the majority of the questions dealt with social networking and privacy issues involving the internet and other electronic devices.  Several recent artilces that appeared in the Birmingham News demonstrate how the internet and other electronic advancements continue to outpace the corporate world.  On April 15, an article by Mary Orndorff dealt with several Alabama Congressmen who use Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Youtube.  On the same day, an article appeared concerning police and fire agences using Twitter to communicate that was published by Carrie Antlfinger with the AP.  Today, an article by Ian Rapoport appeared in the sports section about the University of Alabama football coaches using Twitter for recruiting purposes.  Another articlesappeared this week dealing with the use of GPS devices in divorce cases.

With technology continuing to advance at a rapid pace, it is advisable for employers to have the appropriate policies and procedures to deal with the use of Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Myspace, Youtube and GPS devices both on company time and off of company time.  Many disgruntled employees post their views in the public domain, which may have an adverse impact on their company.  Others post positive views, which would be beneficial to the company.  Some policies are a single paragraph, while others are multiple pages long. What it comes down to is be respectful, and if you can't say it to your mother, don't say it on the internet!!

Practice Pointer.  It is advisable for employers to have a policy tailored to their needs concerning social networking.  The policy needs to be reviewed and updated on a regular basis, as technology continues to advance.

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