Legal news for California business litigation lawyers.
Power.com counter sues Facebook claiming anti-competitive business practices.
San Francisco, CA–Facebook, a popular online social network, is a named defendant in a countersuit filed business litigation attorneys for Power.com, as reported by the Washington Post. San-Francisco based Power, or Power Ventures Inc., filed a lawsuit against Facebook in a California court on Friday. The social network giant, Facebook, sued Power, an independent one-stop social network aggregator, six months ago. Power allows Internet users to access more than one social network website through a single portal. Currently, Power connects over eight million users from Myspace, Twitter, LinkIn, Okut, and HI5. Facebook has upwards of 200 million members.
Power’s lawsuit accuses Facebook of creating a monopoly, restraint of trade, and unfair competition. Six months ago, lawyers for Facebook accused Power of fraud, unlawful competition, and trademark and copyright infringement in their business litigation lawsuit. Power’s service enables users to share information and access several social networking websites. Power believes that a profile’s content and data, stored on the social networking websites, belongs to the Internet users who created the profile. Facebook feels that users are put at risk when information and profiles are shared and modified through aggregators like Power.
A few months ago, Facebook attempted to alter their terms of service agreements with their users, by refusing to allow people to share their information and change their personal profiles through gateways like Power. However, users were unhappy Facebook was trying to claim ownership of their personal information found on their individual profiles. In response to the overwhelming user complaints, Facebook gave up on the issue. Power’s counter lawsuit demands Facebook be forever banned from “anti-competitive practices.” Power is also asking for an undeclared amount of compensation for unspecified damages and costs. Facebook denies Power’s claims and plans to fight the case.
Legal news report for California business litigation lawyers.
