Facebook Announces Settlement of Legal Dispute with Another Former Zuckerberg Classmate
Facebook has just issued a Friday night press release announcing the settling of a trademark dispute with Think Computer Corporation, whose founder Aaron Greenspan created the houseSYSTEM student web portal while he and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg were classmates at Harvard. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but if the rumored “$65 million” settlement with the founders of ConnectU is any indication, it’s possible Greenspan’s settlement could also be valued in the millions.
In the statement, Zuckerberg said:
“Aaron and I studied together at Harvard and I’ve always admired his entrepreneurial spirit and love of building things. I appreciate his hard work and innovation that led to building houseSYSTEM, including the Universal Face Book feature. At school, I was even a member of houseSYSTEM. We are pleased that we’ve been able to amicably resolve our differences.”
“I am glad that my contributions have been recognized by Facebook. Mark has built a tremendous company at Facebook, and I wish them continued success in the future,” Greenspan said in the release.
Here’s what happened: Greenspan’s houseSYSTEM, a web-based portal for students at Harvard that he built in 2003 (before Facebook was founded), included a feature called “The Face Book.” However, in 2005, Facebook was awarded a trademark for the term “Facebook” by the USPTO. Facebook was then awarded a second trademark in 2006. Greenspan had since filed petitions to have the USPTO revoke both of Facebook’s trademarks, saying he had used the term first. (See this 2007 NY Times story for more.) However, now all of that is going away: as part of the settlement, Greenspan canceled all of his legal actions against the company.
This isn’t the first time Facebook has settled 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 basically stole the idea for Facebook from them while they were undergraduates at Harvard. Drama has since ensued on the ConnectU side as the Winklevosses fired their lawyers and sought to have the settlement canceled, but the courts have upheld it since.



May 23rd, 2009 at 3:01 am
[...] Facebook Announces Settlement of Legal Dispute with Another Former Zuckerberg ClassmateMay 23, 2009 [...]
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:09 am
[...] View original here: Facebook Announces Settlement of Legal Dispute with Another Former … [...]
May 23rd, 2009 at 10:47 am
Mark, what are you doing messing with Greenspan anyway. Isn’t he a crook? Hasn’t he been kicked out of ALL his companies because he’s just some loose playboy? Mark, don’t take shit from people, stand up for yourself. Greenspan didn’t settle with you, he bullied you.
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:41 pm
[...] שקראתי ב-InsideFacebook הזכיר לי דיון פילוסופי שניהלתי עם לא מעט אנשים בשנים [...]
May 23rd, 2009 at 6:56 pm
[...] For more details on the lawsuit and Greenspan’s claims against Facebook, review this insidefacebook.com article. [...]
May 24th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Oh wait… I thought you were talking about Brad Greenspan from myspace… i apologize.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:17 am
[...] Naturally, this led to trademark disputes which have now been settled. [...]
May 28th, 2009 at 12:06 am
[...] Naturally, this led to trademark disputes which have now been settled. [...]
July 17th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
[...] also avoids the touchy subject of another settlement that Facebook founders later reached with a classmate of Zuckerberg’s, this time over the [...]
December 13th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
so heres to it