Twitter has become the place for celebrities and brands to connect with fans, but if you’re too slow – or simply no longer around – to get a handle with your name, too bad?

Credit - jlmaral
Credit – jlmaral

That’s what happened to James Dean. James Dean, Inc., the deceased actor’s estate, is suing Twitter and the anonymous fan behind @jamesdean for trademark infringement and to gain control of the account. While impersonation accounts are against Twitter rules, @jamesdean is rather harmless by sharing photos of and quotes about the brooding actor. The person behind the twitter handle has taken the legal fight to the account’s 8000+ followers by tweeting out that CMG asked him to manage the account in 2010.

Twitter says it will take down accounts that violate trademark, but the suit alleges that the microblogging site refused to suspend @jamesdean because they called it a fan page, which they do allow.

While there are thousands of fan and parody Twitter accounts for celebrities, there isn’t much of a precedent for Dean’s estate. In a similar case, St. Louis Cardinals’ manager Tony La Russa claimed that he settled with Twitter over trademark infringement and the emotional stress caused by fake account using his name. Twitter didn’t want any part of that suit and rolled out their verified account program.

Reports this week that Twitter has settled a law suit and officially agreed to pay legal fees for an impersonation complaint that was taken care of by our support staff in accordance with our Terms are erroneous. Twitter has not settled, nor do we plan to settle or pay. … Mr. La Russa’s lawsuit was an unnecessary waste of judicial resources bordering on frivolous. Twitter’s Terms of Service are fair and we believe will be upheld in a court that will ultimately dismiss Mr. La Russa’s lawsuit.

According to James Stewart of DLA Piper, brands with a federal trademark (like the estate) are within their right to sue over social media accounts, but “while legal protection and enforcement mechanisms exist, it is almost never advisable to take a hard stance towards infringing users on social media accounts.  As one practitioner stated, ‘you may win the infringement battle, but lose the public relations war.’ ”

When Twitter does reassign accounts, things can get messy. Internet entrepreneur Leonard Barshack tried to get an injunction against Twitter he lost the use of @SunValley, which he had for personal use before an Idaho ski resort claimed trademark infringement. Barshack has yet to get his original handel back, but he did get a lot of media attention for calling Twitter a bully.

But in this new lawsuit, who’s the bigger bully?

The social network doesn’t allow users to sell handles or reserve them, and as a free service, Twitter doesn’t have to guarantee an account to anyone. The suit also doesn’t reflect well on the actor’s estate and the rebel image they are trying to protect by going after fans.