A web property is a

point of presence A point of presence (PoP) is an artificial demarcation point or network interface point between communicating entities. A common example is an ISP point of presence, the local access point that allows users to connect to the Internet with their ...

(e.g. a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikip ...

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

account,

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

, etc.) on the web that is an

asset In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value of ownership that ca ...

of an

entity An entity is something that exists as itself, as a subject or as an object, actually or potentially, concretely or abstractly, physically or not. It need not be of material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually r ...

(e.g. an individual or

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

) used for the purpose of representing a

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create a ...

person A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

or other identity. The property can be considered a communication channel for the entity whose identity is associated with it. Points of presence on the web which contain content about an entity may not be property that can be owned by that entity (e.g. restaurant review pages on sites such as

Yelp Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San F ...

). Web property is considered

intangible property Intangible property, also known as incorporeal property, is something that a person or corporation can have ownership of and can transfer ownership to another person or corporation, but has no physical substance, for example brand identity or kn ...

and is analogous to

real property In English common law, real property, real estate, immovable property or, solely in the US and Canada, realty, is land which is the property of some person and all structures (also called improvements or fixtures) integrated with or affixe ...

in that it has ownership which can be recorded and transferred though ascertaining ownership is not always a simple or easy matter to resolve. The issue of ownership can be particularly challenging in relation to the employer-employee situation. Two current legal cases are likely to set precedent in this area, and .

Websites as web property

The ownership of a website usually can be ascertained via the registration of the

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. ...

via the

Domain Name System The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned ...

. The Registrant record of the DNS identifies the individual or company who has the right to use, sell or destroy a domain name. Ownership of the domain name does not guarantee ownership of the website to which it points or the content contained there.

Social media as web property

Social media presents a different challenge regarding web property ownership. For individuals, the web

is owned by the individual who created it (e.g. the owner of a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

Account could be considered the owner of the

Facebook page Facebook is a social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile app and are available to users of t ...

which he or she created). However, if the point of presence was created for a business (e.g. a corporation), then the law is not entirely settled though two cases are currently working through the courts:

PhoneDog v. Kravitz

PhoneDog v. Kravitz is a "lawsuit involving a web-based company and a former employee hichhas put a spotlight on the ownership and value of a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account begun by an employee under the auspices of his employment, but continued by him, under a different name, after he terminated his employment." On 3 December 2012, "Kravitz announced that he and PhoneDog have reached an agreement under which Kravitz will get to keep his Twitter account -- and his followers."

Eagle v. Morgan

In 2010 Sawbeh Information Services Company (SISCOM) purchased Edcomm from Linda Eagle and her partners. In 2008, Eagle had created a

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job s ...

account that she used for business and personal purposes, and utilized the services of another employee, Elizabeth Sweeney, to maintain the account. In 2011, Eagle and her partners were discharged but SISCOM's new executive team acquired the password to Eagle's account and took control of it, locking out Eagle. Eagle is now suing to regain control of her account. SISCOM's claimed that Eagle's LinkedIn connections belonged to the company, that Eagle stole the connections and subsequently reaped the benefit of the time and efforts it put into maintaining her LinkedIn account.

Unresolved questions

There are a couple questions left unresolved with respect to the ownership of web points of presence: # Can the content of a point of presence be owned separately from the presence itself? # Can the community attached to a point of presence (e.g. friends, fans, and followers) be owned separately from the presence itself?

References