Inside Facebook

Last year, social network aggregator Power.com introduced a service that “that solicits, stores and uses Facebook login information to access information stored on Facebook computers without authorization and to display Facebook copyrighted material without permission.” Or so Facebook described Power.com’s actions in a lawsuit it filed against the company last January.

Then, Power.com countersued in July — that suit has now been dismissed by judge Jeremy Fogel of the United States District Court for Northern California.

Here’s what Power.com’s suit was going for, from our coverage then:

Power.com is essentially claiming that the court should force Facebook to allow Power.com to scrape and store user data because 1) doing so is “common industry practice” (citing Facebook’s own contact importer), 2) Facebook’s own terms of service say Facebook doesn’t own user data, and 3) Facebook’s behavior in not allowing it to do so is “anticompetitive.”

Basically, Power.com was trying to make the case that Facebook couldn’t control its users’ data on the site. Here’s what Fogel’s dismissal today (any other ruling would have been surprising):

Good cause therefor appearing, Facebook’s motions to dismiss and strike affirmative defenses will be GRANTED.  Because it is not entirely clear that at least some of the deficiencies in Power’s pleading could not be cured by amendment, leave to amend is appropriate.  Any amended pleading shall be filed within motion is hereby vacated.

Power.com does not currently support Facebook, although it supports other social sites including MySpace and Twitter.

And, here’s the court document: