Twitter has tweeted its way into the courtroom and Mediabeak sees there is scope for a new online writ serving service "Writter" to accompany this latest legal action.
Facts: A law firm - Griffin Law - who thought they were being impersonated by a 'tweeter' online but could not identify them other than through their online Twitter status, succesfully persuaded the High Court to issue and injunction via Twitter.
Implications: With due deference to our legal process, it isn't known for its procudural agility. Accepting Twitter as a medium means that legal orders such as writs can be served almost instantaneously. This has fast forwarded injunction serving into cyberspace and has far reaching implications. The current case led the High Court to Twitter as the only readily ascertainable medium through with to serve process on the defendant BUT if the courts were to embrace this method of service then following this precedent there is no reason why they should not issue other/future orders via the Twitter medium - provided the intended recipient could reasonably be expected to be in a positon to accept or receive service via this medium. So online perpetrators beware - if you're infringing or violating others' rights in cyberspace then the long arm of judicial law now reaches into your virtual domain and will be legally binding!
More from:
Reuters
The defendant complied with injunction - Solicitors Journal
Twitter - a legal force to be reckoned with - see further case involving the UK's Guardian newspaper HERE
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