For the last week, Facebook has been in court over one of the biggest intellectual property scandals this year. The founders of rival social networking site “ConnectU” claim that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, stole their ideas and trade secrets.
Their story goes like this:
- While ConnectU's founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevosss and Divya Narendra where attending Harvard, they began working on Harvard Connection, a social networking site (later renamed ConnectU).
- The plaintiffs claim to have hired Zuckerberg (at that time sophomore at Harvard) to work on the computer program software and database definitions for Harvard Connection, and even gave him access to the source code for their site.
- The plaintiffs claim that on Jan. 11, 2004, Zuckerberg registered the domain name “TheFaceBook.com” and launched Facebook on Feb. 4, 2004, using information gleaned from them.
- Zuckerberg allegedly never gave them the promised code, and never completed work on Havard Connection.
- The three then filed a lawsuit accusing Zuckerberg of copyright infringement, fraud, and misappropriation of trade secrets. The plaintiffs hope to get the hugely popular site shut down, and want all assets transferred to ConnectU.
Although Facebook’s attorneys claim that the allegations are are unsubstantiated with evidence, if it’s found that Zuckerberg did steal ConnectU’s intellectual property the results will be momentus. Facebook, valued at about 4 billion dollars (though this is arguable) and with 30 million active members, has a lot to lose.
As a user of facebook, I’m hoping that the allegations against Zuckerberg are false, and that Facebook wins the case.
So is this a case of dishonest disgruntled ex-colleagues with stars in their eyes, hungering over a piece of the Facebook pie? Or do the claims have something to them?
Only tomorrow’s ruling will tell.
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6 comments:
I think the real thing to worry about is the 30 million pissed off Facebook users if the site shuts down.
If the allegations are true why can't the site stay as it is while a large portion of its profit simply goes into the pockets of those who deserve it?
Thanks so much for breaking the issue down - i didnt quite understand it to begin with ... i dont think they can shut facebook down, Zuckerbergg will probably have to fork out a huge chunk of his profits - and he's our age!!!!
Hmmm, lots of Facebook-lovers are very worried right now! A good blog about a pertinent issue. One thing you talked about was really interesting and i thought perhaps you could pick up on it in future blogs - how social networking sites (which are free to the user) actually make money. How does one value a site like Facebook?
I hear ConnectU's argument, but what is Zuckerberg's defence?
Zuckerberg simply denies having stolen their property. He claims that he conceptualised facebook way before starting work for connectu (bit of a co-incidence though, don't you think?). Galen, I hear what you're saying, but connectu really hates fb... they want all the facebook users to have to move onto their site. I guess its about the fact that they spent so long developing it, so they want to see their own site come to fruition .... its not enough for them to just take over facebook. I really hope that they lose though ... i like using facebook :(
well if facebook does lose then we can all join connectU!! and the whole process of adding friends can begin again...
how long can facebook last for anyway? the fad has to die sometime -and this is coming from the biggest facebook addict.
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