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Posted by UmmiE on Jul-25-2007 16:15:

Lawsuit demands closure of Facebook website

Lawyers for Facebook will argue on Wednesday for the dismissal of a lawsuit accusing its founder of stealing the idea for the popular social-networking website from his fellow students at Harvard.


A hearing in the case is scheduled on Wednesday before Judge Douglas Woodlock in a federal court in Boston.


The struggling website ConnectU alleges in its lawsuit that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was hired to write a computer program but never delivered the work and instead created Facebook using their concept.


ConnectU says its creators were Harvard University students when they assigned Zuckerberg in 2003 to write code for their website, which at that time was called Harvard Connection.


Instead of delivering the promised code in January 2004, Zuckerberg allegedly registered the "Facebook" domain name and a month later launched the website as a social networking forum for people at universities, according to ConnectU lawyer Daniel Tigne.


ConnectU hired someone to do the work Zuckerberg left undone and launched its website in May of that year, with Facebook having "usurped" the advantage of being first to market, Tigne said in court documents.


Accusations in a suit Tigne filed against Zuckerberg and Facebook in May of this year include fraud, copyright infringement, breach of contract, and misappropriation of trade secrets.


The lawsuit asks the federal court to close Facebook, strip its assets and make the firm pay ConnectU cash damages yet to be determined.


Zuckerberg, Facebook and other employees named as defendants in the suit deny the charges and are asking that the case be dismissed.


The case is little more than an outdated "dispute between several Harvard students," Facebook attorney Steven Bauer said in a written motion to have the lawsuit thrown out.


"None of them were paid. Each of them had different interests and activities," Bauer wrote in the motion.


"Only one of them had an idea significant enough to build a great company. That one person was Mark Zuckerberg."


Facebook's popularity has surged worldwide since it began allowing users to customize web pages with their own computer applications and expanded its membership beyond academia.


The monthly tally of visitors to the Palo Alto, California-based Facebook's website rose nearly 90 percent in May to an estimated 26.6 million visitors, according to industry tracking firm comScore.


Internet titan Yahoo offered to buy Facebook last year for a billion dollars, but Zuckerberg refused to sell.






Source


Posted by beefy k on Jul-25-2007 16:18:

They aren't even going to let this get to the courts. Apparently the ConnectU guys don't have code dating back far enough.

Whatever, they'll still get a pretty big check I think.


Posted by Orko on Jul-25-2007 16:24:

Please somebody shut it down.


Posted by r5a on Jul-25-2007 16:43:

LOL.

Not gonna happen. (to both the article and Orko)


Posted by Orko on Jul-25-2007 16:48:

Booo, why can't you let me live the dream!?


Posted by Cro_Addict on Jul-25-2007 16:51:

yeah i read this a while ago...bunch of BS

did u guys even go check out ConnecU.com??

Go look.....its looks like something my grandma could have made...
haha


Posted by I_Am_Vince on Jul-25-2007 16:55:

Re: Lawsuit demands closure of Facebook website

quote:
Originally posted by Provocative_boi
Internet titan Yahoo offered to buy Facebook last year for a billion dollars, but Zuckerberg refused to sell.


Holy shit, how can he refuse that offer?! Facebook isn't going to be around forever, look what happened to friendster and those other ones.


Posted by UmmiE on Jul-25-2007 16:59:

Re: Re: Lawsuit demands closure of Facebook website

quote:
Originally posted by Invasionmix
Holy shit, how can he refuse that offer?! Facebook isn't going to be around forever, look what happened to friendster and those other ones.



Honestly i still think facebook has an edge over those other sites plus they keep adding shit to every day and hence people get more and more hooked.

Im on facebook and even still i dont know how to use half the shit they have on it,rocket science seems more easy to understand than facebook. LOL


Posted by Cro_Addict on Jul-25-2007 17:03:

Re: Re: Lawsuit demands closure of Facebook website

quote:
Originally posted by Invasionmix
Holy shit, how can he refuse that offer?! Facebook isn't going to be around forever, look what happened to friendster and those other ones.


I have read elsewhere about rumors that he could receive offers up to 6-8 billion...thats why he didnt take it


Posted by FunkyCrew on Jul-25-2007 17:08:

no way they will even get through to the court

total load of bs!
similar concept? tough!


Posted by Yohan on Jul-25-2007 17:17:

Can you patent a concept in cyberspace? (ie Facebook?)


Posted by Orko on Jul-25-2007 17:21:

quote:
Originally posted by EvilTree
Can you patent a concept in cyberspace? (ie Facebook?)


Concept? No, never!

Code? Yes, definitely.


Posted by FunkyCrew on Jul-25-2007 17:23:

quote:
Originally posted by Orko
Concept? No, never!

Code? Yes, definitely.


/end thread
they are suing on basis of a concept, since he was asked to write a code, which is by default his


Posted by UmmiE on Jul-25-2007 17:24:

quote:
Originally posted by FunkyCrew
/end thread
they are suing on basis of a concept, since he was asked to write a code, which is by default his


LOL you should go into law kris.


Posted by FunkyCrew on Jul-25-2007 17:29:

quote:
Originally posted by Provocative_boi
LOL you should go into law kris.


I took a course in econ. law in Fall'06


Posted by Cro_Addict on Jul-25-2007 17:33:

quote:
Originally posted by EvilTree
Can you patent a concept in cyberspace? (ie Facebook?)


well thats where intellectual property laws come into effect.


Posted by TO guy on Jul-25-2007 17:40:

quote:
Originally posted by FunkyCrew
/end thread
they are suing on basis of a concept, since he was asked to write a code, which is by default his


When you write code for a company it becomes their property, and they can make a claim for it. In this case, it seems that he did not end up writing any code for this company, but the employment/contractor contract he signed likely contained a "work in progress" clause, which makes all his work also the property of the company.


Posted by geroin on Jul-25-2007 17:53:

quote:
Originally posted by TO guy
When you write code for a company it becomes their property, and they can make a claim for it. In this case, it seems that he did not end up writing any code for this company, but the employment/contractor contract he signed likely contained a "work in progress" clause, which makes all his work also the property of the company.


exactly, when he's hired to do something all the code becomes the property of the company because he got paid for it.
Also how in the hell can you protect the code? if i take a chunk of the code how are you gonna prove that i didn't write it myself, load of bs.


Posted by FunkyCrew on Jul-25-2007 17:54:

quote:
Originally posted by TO guy
When you write code for a company it becomes their property, and they can make a claim for it. In this case, it seems that he did not end up writing any code for this company, but the employment/contractor contract he signed likely contained a "work in progress" clause, which makes all his work also the property of the company.


the clause is possible

my only concern is - Facebook is around for what, 2 years now? and they are suddenly suing now? greedy bastards


Posted by TO guy on Jul-25-2007 18:03:

quote:
Originally posted by FunkyCrew
the clause is possible

my only concern is - Facebook is around for what, 2 years now? and they are suddenly suing now? greedy bastards


Totally agreed, but look what happened to RIM. They got sued by a patent holder that never even tried to bring a product to market.


Posted by Cro_Addict on Jul-25-2007 18:11:

I must interupt!!

SVD streaming now on DI.fm


Posted by rabbitjoker on Jul-25-2007 18:38:

quote:
Originally posted by FunkyCrew
my only concern is - Facebook is around for what, 2 years now? and they are suddenly suing now? greedy bastards


The case was filed 3 years ago:

http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2...tThefacebookcom


Posted by FunkyCrew on Jul-25-2007 18:52:

quote:
Originally posted by rabbitjoker
The case was filed 3 years ago:

http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2...tThefacebookcom


doesn't it have an "expiry date" so to speak?


Posted by Misanthrope on Jul-25-2007 18:57:

FACEBOOK IS A SLUT


Posted by StereoPrincess on Jul-25-2007 18:58:

quote:
Originally posted by FunkyCrew
doesn't it have an "expiry date" so to speak?


well, it just goes to show that these guys that are suing him are not doing it for money because 3 years ago there was no money.


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