Flexiworld Sues Indeed and LinkedIn = Extra Cringe

This week at the Job Board Doctor, we are wrapping up the last of the fall conference season live from NOLA, at Outsolve’s inaugural HR Gumbo conference. In the spirit of our pure exhaustion, and yours too, let’s look at this week’s industry tea.

Not to pick on LinkedIn, but they definitely provided some fodder for the TA Tech gossip machine. But the B-I-G news of the week is all Indeed and yet another lawsuit.

Flexiworld Sues Indeed for Not One, But FOUR (alleged) Patent Infringements

Hold on to your socks, folks. This feels like a big one.

This week, in District Court For The Western District Of Texas Austin Division, Flexiworld Technologies sued Indeed for four patent infringements. The initial filing alleges Indeed and its customers have infringed on these patents with use of protected data mining technologies specifically related to named Indeed products – Indeed Ads, Indeed Resume Project and Indeed Instant Match.

The passage below from the initial filing caught our attention.

Indeed has infringed (literally and/or under the doctrine of equivalents), directly, indirectly, and/or through subsidiaries, agents, representatives, or intermediaries, one or more claims of one or more of the Patents-in-Suit by making, using, importing, testing, supplying, causing to be supplied, selling, and/or offering for sale in the United States products and services via its Indeed platform(s), including but not limited to various versions of its Internet-based platform with features such as Indeed Ads, Indeed Resume Project, and Indeed Instant Match, including as implemented on Indeed’s web-based platform and using iOS, Android, and other apps (the “Accused Products”).

Indeed’s customers have directly infringed the Patents-in-Suit by using the Accused Products. Through its product manuals, website, instructional videos and/or sales and marketing activities, Indeed solicited, instructed, encouraged, and aided and abetted its customers to purchase and use the Accused Products in an infringing way.

Indeed was served with a summons on October 21^st.  You can read the full initial  filing  here – Flexiworld vs Indeed.

LinkedIn Becoming (More) Cringe?

Ah, LinkedIn—the once-stuffy professional networking site that’s now the go-to place for “cringe-fests“. Bryan Shankman kicked off his LinkedIn parody by proposing to his girlfriend and turning it into a lesson about B2B sales.

Thousands rolled their eyes, but it went viral, proving that LinkedIn’s transformation into the Facebook of corporate oversharing is complete.

His post even landed on the LinkedIn Lunatics Subreddit, where tone-deaf execs and awkward posts are roasted for sport.

Despite the eye-rolls, LinkedIn keeps growing, leaving us wondering: how did a site for job listings and professional networking morph into a parade of humblebrags and life lessons disguised as business advice?

Read the full story from Dallas News

LinkedIn Lunatics

Oh and did I mention I enjoyed some time on the LinkedIn Lunatics Subreddit this week? One particularly cringey “lunatic” made the thread with this forehead slapping post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope none of us made the list. But some of you may consider taking a look.

LinkedIn User Purge or Na?

LinkedIn users freaked out when their follower counts mysteriously plummeted, with many speculating that the platform was cleaning house, purging fake or inactive accounts. Self-proclaimed “experts” swooped in to offer advice on avoiding bans, while others spiraled into existential crisis, wondering what they had done to deserve such a dramatic drop.

After hours of silence, LinkedIn finally admitted it was just a glitch—no mass purge that they admitted to, no drama. They fixed it, shrugged, and offered no real explanation. Classic LinkedIn, where losing followers is the new professional nightmare, but don’t worry—it was just a bug.

How much of my personal information have I given them again? Maybe that is a discussion for another week.

Read more at Yahoo Finance

Finally, I was privileged to join Steven Rothberg, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer for College Recruiter and Yaz Dalah, Chief Growth Officer for Joveo live from Unleash World on the Inside Job Boards and Recruitment Market Places Podcast last week.

Take a quick 15-minute watch and let me know what you think.

Til next time!

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