UIC Law Review Volume 47 Issue 2 Annual Kratovil Symposium on Real Article 10 Estate Law & Practice Winter 2013 Putting a Price on Friendship: Examining the Ownership Battle between a Business' Social Media Networks, and the Humans That Operate Them, 47 J. Marshall L. Rev. 745 (2013) Michael Furlong Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.uic.edu/lawreview Part of the Business Organizations Law Commons, Computer Law Commons, Intellectual Property Law Commons, Internet Law Commons, Labor and Employment Law Commons, Marketing Law Commons, and the Property Law and Real Estate Commons Recommended Citation Michael Furlong, Putting a Price on Friendship: Examining the Ownership Battle between a Business' Social Media Networks, and the Humans That Operate Them, 47 J. Marshall L. Rev. 745 (2013) https://repository.law.uic.edu/lawreview/vol47/iss2/10 This Comments is brought to you for free and open access by UIC Law Open Access Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in UIC Law Review by an authorized administrator of UIC Law Open Access Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. PUTTING A PRICE ON FRIENDSHIP: EXAMINING THE OWNERSHIP BATTLE BETWEEN A BUSINESS' SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS, AND THE HUMANS THAT OPERATE THEM MICHAEL FURLONG* I. INTRODUCTION Gary Vaynerchuk took over his father's liquor store, "Shopper's Discount Liquor," and revamped it into his own "Wine Library."' Vaynerchuk eventually started "Wine Library TV," 2 and grew this previously valued $4 million business into a $50 million dollar business 3 using social media. 4 Wine Library has almost 25,000 followers5 on Twitter6 and 40,000 "likes"7 on Facebook.8 * J.D., The John Marshall Law School, 2014; B.A.