Power.com countersues Facebook over user data

By Gina Keating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Power.com, a San Francisco based aggregator of social networking sites, on Friday sued Facebook in a California court to try to resolve who owns data on social networking websites -- users or the sites.

Power says users do. It plans to take a stand in its lawsuit to ensure that users have rights to "complete and total" ownership and control of their content, and to protect their content from other users and corporate entities.

The countersuit accusing Facebook of unfair competition, restraint of trade and creating a monopoly, comes about six months after Facebook sued Power.com for alleged copyright and trademark infringement, unlawful competition and fraud.

Power denied those allegations in its counterclaim, and asked that Facebook be permanently barred from "anti-competitive practices." It also requested unspecified damages and costs.

Facebook said in a statement that it made "numerous attempts" to work with Power before suing the company, "but ... they continued to put Facebook user data at risk."

The claims in Power's lawsuit are "without merit, and we will fight them aggressively," the statement said.

Power allows users to access multiple social networking accounts through a single portal and to manipulate features and data on those accounts.

In its cross complaint, Power says it "believes in a borderless Internet where users have the right to control their own data."