4 ms·

I can expense a meal I buy for a colleague and myself too, not just if a third party client is involved. So imagine our offices are busy as hell and there isn'

by corin_ 15y ago

I can expense a meal I buy for a colleague and myself too, not just if a third party client is involved. So imagine our offices are busy as hell and there isn't room for one of my colleagues to meet with a client who is coming in. I say "take my keys, there's scotch in the usual place, take him into the living room". Maybe I'd even expense the bottle of scotch afterwards. Would you now argue that the company owns my home because it was used in this way?

pavel_lishin 15y ago
Depends. If you were the CEO, and your small house faced a busy street, and had the business name plastered all over it, and you made a habit of inviting customers, coworkers, clients, business partners, etc. - perhaps! (Again, in a mock trial sort of situation, not in one where I'd actually potentially make you homeless.) But also IANAL, so I'm sure there must be a precedent for this sort of thing, both online and real-state wise.
- nknight 15y ago
  You're way off. Possession, contrary to popular cliché, is not 9/10ths of the law. Property, real or personal, has an owner. In the case of real estate and certain other property (such as a car), that ownership is usually even on record with the county or state. Short of actual abandonment, which is a narrow, and generally hard-to-prove case, ownership of property in any form cannot be transferred without some sort of contract. Although some property might be transferred by oral contract, that still requires evidence that a contract was formed, which requires a "meeting of the minds". You actually have to prove there was an intent by the owner to transfer the property. That's a high bar to clear, especially with something as inherently personal as a linkedin account, where any reasonable person would assume the account belongs to the individual, not the corporation.

4 ms·

I can expense a meal I buy for a colleague and myself too, not just if a third party client is involved. So imagine our offices are busy as hell and there isn'

by corin_ 15y ago

pavel_lishin 15y ago
Depends. If you were the CEO, and your small house faced a busy street, and had the business name plastered all over it, and you made a habit of inviting customers, coworkers, clients, business partners, etc. - perhaps! (Again, in a mock trial sort of situation, not in one where I'd actually potentially make you homeless.) But also IANAL, so I'm sure there must be a precedent for this sort of thing, both online and real-state wise.
- nknight 15y ago
  You're way off. Possession, contrary to popular cliché, is not 9/10ths of the law. Property, real or personal, has an owner. In the case of real estate and certain other property (such as a car), that ownership is usually even on record with the county or state. Short of actual abandonment, which is a narrow, and generally hard-to-prove case, ownership of property in any form cannot be transferred without some sort of contract. Although some property might be transferred by oral contract, that still requires evidence that a contract was formed, which requires a "meeting of the minds". You actually have to prove there was an intent by the owner to transfer the property. That's a high bar to clear, especially with something as inherently personal as a linkedin account, where any reasonable person would assume the account belongs to the individual, not the corporation.