Suburban Detroit agency Tanner Friedman caught rival firm Marx Layne squatting, impersonating and defaming the newer firm on Twitter. Tanner Friedman filed a federal suit against “John Doe” to compel the Twitter company to give up the IP address of the Tweeting bandit.

There is bad blood between these two firms. As can happen when an employee leaves to start their own firm, Matt Friedman lured four clients away from Marx when he left. The situation is likely intensified by the regional nature and intense competition for business in the recession-crippled market. Both have auto industry related accounts among other areas of overlap.

Tanner Friedman launched their real agency Twitter account yesterday with “Yes, it’s really us”. Not surprisingly, Marx Layne’s account carried no mention of any of this.

Crain’s Detroit Business’s For Immediate Release blog has been covering the story since the nasty Tweeting began in March.

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