According to documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco in July, Phonedog L.L.C., an online publisher of consumer electronics reviews, claims a former California-based writer, Noah Kravitz, stole more than 17,000 Twitter followers from the company when he resigned from Phonedog in October 2010. Upon Kravitz's resignation, Phonedog claims to have requested that he turn over access to the Twitter account he maintained on their behalf. The Company claims that instead Kravitz changed the account's online handle branded for Phonedog to one for Mr. Kravitz's personal use.

Kravitz allegedly continued to use the account — initially to supplement his freelance writing, and later as full-time writer for a competing Web site. Kravitz moved to dismiss on the grounds that Phonedog was unable to establish that Mr. Kravitz's conduct directly disrupted economic relationships between the company and the Twitter followers, its advertisers or other media outlets.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria-Elena James on Monday rejected Mr. Kravitz's motion, noting that the company had demonstrated that the decrease in traffic to its Web site generated by the loss of the Twitter followers would reasonably impact the company's ability to sell ad space on its site.

In its suit, PhoneDog claims the Twitter followers are the legal equivalent of a client list. PhoneDog estimates the value of the lost Twitter followers at $42,500 per month and, as such, is seeking $340,000 from Mr. Kravitz to make up for the eight months of lost access that had accrued by the time of the lawsuit's filing.