14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like everyone is trying to get some attention by using Twitter, but while most may be doing it the old-fashioned way, by actually using Twitter, others have decided that suing the service would prove much more successful. That seems to be the case with Tony La Russa, the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals Major League Baseball team, who is suing Twitter on the grounds that someone is using his identity on the site.
He claims that the user in question used his identity to make some tweets that La Russa didn't find very funny, and which in fact caused him emotional distress. The tweets he found most offending were about two Cardinals pitchers who passed away as well as drunk-driving allegations. Apart from damage to his reputation he also claims copyright infringement and has decided Twitter is responsible.
La Russa's lawyer, Gregor McCoy, claims they had contacted Twitter about the account and asked the website to remove it, something the social networking company does rather frequently. However, after three weeks and no results the team manager filed a suit against it, last month, with the Superior Court of California in San Francisco. The US law doesn't hold web sites accountable for the content their users post on them but in this case it could be a trademark violation as Twitter uses the account names, including potentially fake ones, in its web address. “The main issue is that you can’t use somebody else’s name in your Web address,” said La Russa’s lawyer, Gregory McCoy.
Twitter removed the fake account just half an hour after finding out about the suit. However Twitter’s terms of service allow users to set up parody accounts if they are clearly marked as such. In this particular case the user didn't make any attempts to hide the fact that this was a fake account. The two parties are currently negotiating a settlement.