Judges Increasingly Allow Discovery Of Private Facebook Content

Courts in the United States are beginning to allow private social media content to enter into trials as evidence. Recent examples in both Florida and Louisiana demonstrate that “…a trend is emerging, …and as social media pages land front and centre in courtrooms across the [U.S.], companies and individuals” should pay attention. It may be prudent to adopt an increasingly cautious approach in your activity online.

In the Florida case of Nucci v. Target Group, where Nucci sued for physical and emotional damages, she was required to produce her Facebook photos which had been private. The Court reasoned that because of the nature of her claims, intangible damages, the Court would need to use the photos as evidence to establish what her quality of life was like before the accident.

Social media content has also been found to be admissible evidence in trademark infringement suits. In Ingrid & Isabel, LLC v. Baby Be Mine, the Court ordered that Baby Be Mine produce their customer comments on their Facebook and Twitter accounts to demonstrate that the two products were confusingly similar.

To read more about the implications of private social media accounts being used as evidence in the U.S. please see: http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/04/23/judges-increasingly-allow-discovery-of-private-facebook-content/id=57060/