Idaho Man Looses Twitter Handle in Court Case

SUN VALLEY, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho judge has dumped a complaint by an Internet entrepreneur and former Wall Street derivatives analyst accusing the Sun Valley resort and Twitter Inc. of stealing his handle.

Fifth District Judge Robert Elgee dismissed Leonard Barshack's lawsuit with prejudice, according to documents on Idaho's court web site. That limits his chances of pursuing the case further. Barshack, who in the 1990s founded the Internet email listing service Bigfoot, sued Sun Valley and Twitter in May after losing his "Sun Valley" online name. San Francisco-based Twitter said Thursday it was pleased with the outcome.

Earlier, the company had told Barshack his account bearing Sun Valley's name was engaged in "non-parody impersonation," something forbidden by the social media site. Barshack, who didn't respond to messages Thursday, now apparently tweets via "iwassunvalley."