Facebook to settle the ConnectU case
Brad Stone over at the NYT reports today that Facebook is intending to settle the suit brought against it by ConnectU and that an agreement could be reached within a matter of weeks.
ConnectU, founded by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss along with Harvard classmate Divya Narendra, originally filed suit against Facebook in 2004, claiming that Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow Facebook co-founders (also Harvard classmates) essentially stole the idea and initial code from ConnectU, then called HarvardConnection, and instead launched their own site, at the time called TheFacebook.
However, the suit was eventually dismissed on a technicality, and nothing much more came of it. Over the next two years, the ConnectU team apparently discontinued working on their product, while Facebook grew like gangbusters
ConnectU then resuscitated the case last year, and Facebook counter-sued in response. Now that Facebook is apparently going to settle the case, one wonders if it has ever contained any merit, or if it is merely an untimely thorn in Facebook’s side that the company is willing to pay to make go away before future financial events. Either way, the lawyers are getting paid.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
[...] Court, Judge James ware issued a decision rejecting ConnectU’s claims of fraud in its recent settlement with Facebook, and enforcing the terms of that agreement. Two weeks ago, ConnectU fired its legal team, hired new [...]
February 11th, 2009 at 1:29 am
[...] Oliver & Hedges, the law firm that represented ConnectU and the Winklevoss brothers in their protracted lawsuit against Facebook that ended in settlement last April, has claimed in a marketing brochure for the firm that the amount of the settlement [...]
February 12th, 2009 at 3:10 am
[...] The $20 million cash payment certainly raises eyebrows given the apparent light weight of ConnectU’s case. For more details on the history of the case and settlement, click here. [...]
March 29th, 2009 at 8:41 am
[...] Les 20 millions de dollar en cash feront certainement se lever quelques sourcils, étant donné l’apparente légèreté du dossier de ConnectU. Pour plus de détail sur ce procès (en anglais, votez en commentaire si vous voudriez que l’article soit traduit), cliquez ici. [...]
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:30 pm
[...] legal matters originating from Mark Zuckerberg’s time at Harvard. Last year, the company settled claims from the founders of a company called ConnectU, whose founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra claimed Zuckerberg has [...]