Legal experts issue Tweeter warning

Company bosses are being warned to keep a careful eye on their Tweeters to stop loose words from costing business, notes The Northern Echo.

As social networking increases, the technology is throwing up all manner of issues for company executives, according to legal experts at regional legal practice BHP Law.

Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook have become part of daily activities to establish relationships with other businesses. But this micro-blogging can lead to time-wasting, computer viruses and public humiliation, which is giving many executives sleepless nights.

Lawbreakers convicted in Topeka's Municipal Court will be required to pay to help improve that court's technology, reports CJOnline.

The Topeka City Council voted 8-1 to approve an ordinance creating a court technology fund and increasing court costs by $5 per conviction to go into it.

"Monies in this fund will be used for upgrading and keeping current the court's electronic records and payment systems and such other similar or comparable purposes as may be determined by the municipal judge," the ordinance says.

Oracle - which recently won $1.3 billion in court damages for the theft of its trade secrets by an SAP subsidiary - faces a $100 million lawsuit alleging it engaged in similar behaviour, reveals the Channel Register.

The complaint, filed in late December by Texas software company 2FA Technology, claims Oracle executives turned a blind eye when security company Passlogix stole source code for strong authentication and credential management software.

Oracle went on to acquire Passlogix in November for $42 million and continues to sell rebranded Passlogix software containing the misappropriated code, the lawsuit alleges.