50sixone owners drop lawsuit over control of social media accounts and intellectual property
One of Adelaide’s sweetest dessert spots has opted to drop a lawsuit against its former IT manager involving control of its social media accounts and intellectual property.
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One of Adelaide’s sweetest, most lucrative dessert spots has opted to drop a legal fight over its social media accounts and intellectual property rather than fight on to the bitter end.
In January, The Advertiser revealed 50sixone — home of Australia’s most expensive, 24-carat adorned ice cream — was suing its former IT guru, Steven Neumann.
That lawsuit — for control of the store’s website, its social media presence and its 88,000 followers worldwide — was scheduled to return to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Instead, 50sixone owners Azote Dessert Bar Pty Ltd and Arese Pty Ltd notified the court they had withdrawn the action, ending it before Mr Neumann had filed defence papers.
Store founder Simon Flocco would not be drawn on the end of the lawsuit when approached by The Advertiser after court.
“No thank you ... no, I don’t want to make a comment,” he said.
50sixone opened its first store at Hyde Park in 2016, but had accrued more than 6000 social media followers before it even opened thanks to preview photos of its treats.
Its success has come, in part, because of its Instagram-worthy menu of “megashakes”.
In the lawsuit, Mr Flocco asserted Mr Neumann — his former friend of 18 years — had assisted in setting up the store by “creating and maintaining” its website, accounts and logo.
He further asserted that, in September 2017, Mr Neumann refused to hand over passwords to those accounts and to the business’ IT system.
The lawsuit had sought to have the court force Mr Neumann to comply and declare the Azote and Arese companies to be the sole owners of 50sixone's intellectual property.
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