April 7, 2008

Facebook To Settle With ConnectU

Duncan Riley

41 comments »

Facebook is said to be finalizing a settlement with founders of ConnectU, according to sources quoted by the NY Times.

For those unfamiliar with the case, a lawsuit before the US Federal Court alleged that Facebook CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg stole the original code for Facebook. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra (ConnectU) accused Zuckerberg of stealing the source code, design, and business plan for Facebook in 2003 when he worked in the Harvard dorms as a programmer for their own tertiary education focused social-networking site HarvardConnect.com, now known as ConnectU.

News of a settlement comes as a surprise given the case to date hadn’t been going well for ConnectU. The press conference ConnectU held in July 2007 was farcical, and the company was given two weeks to revise their complaint or have it thrown out. The next court appearance for the company was at Facebook’s counter case that claimed that ConnectU illegally hacked into Facebook in 2004, stole email addresses then used those addresses to attempt to entice Facebook users to sign up to ConnectU.

According to the NY Times, terms of the settlement have not been disclosed but in the meantime all motions in the case against ConnectU have been terminated.

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TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Facebook、ConnectUと和解へ

April 7th, 2008 at 6:37 pm

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Andrew

April 7th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

This case is why everyone should get their contractors to sign WFH agreements!
113.com

April 7th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

It’s about time to do so…
Ryan Merket

April 7th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

Who needs funding when you can claim your competitor stole your code and design and then file a lawsuit?

Even after all the money, ConnectU still won’t have a website worth anything. Bravo guys, bravo.
diystartupnews.com

April 7th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

Does settling imply guilt?
Jollyjo

April 7th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

Will Zuckerberg have have any credibility after this or is it neither here nor there?
naysayer

April 7th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

How much did the connectU guys get?
lawrence

April 7th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

it’s stfu money - it’s a nasty thorn for FB have this lingering, so just throw a dime their way.

who ultimatley created FB will never be known. besides, Zuck probably feels somewhat remorseful for having his buddies be ‘homeless’
whoopie

April 7th, 2008 at 4:22 pm

haha sweet payout for these clowns, they’ll be sipping tequila in bora bora next week, happy to let zuck put this to sleep.
Peter Urban

April 7th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

I guess FB wanted to just get rid of Zuck’s nagging ex school buddies. And hey, what are a few dimes for code that you can conquer the world with.
CARversation.com

April 7th, 2008 at 4:30 pm

this is what happens with money, people get jealous and you start to lose friends. Also, facebook is a great site, but way over rated and over valued.
Sandeep

April 7th, 2008 at 4:34 pm

It is indeed surprising given that FB had a strong case and of course it has more powerful legal team.

Some potential reasons:

1. FB might be preparing for an IPO. A nagging lawsuit could be a liability and might devalue the price.

2. Remote possibility: FB might be up for potential sale - but who would be the buyer? Microsoft?
John Doe

April 7th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

I wonder how much they got..
will

April 7th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

The connectU guys are absolute asshole and amatures . . .but the story is also 100% true . . .
Rob the Drummer

April 7th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

No one can stop the REAL napster!!!
/ItalianJob
Joshua Konkle

April 7th, 2008 at 5:23 pm

FACEBOOK == Passport from 2000; Advertising, smadervisting

Long term the would be adults will take facebook into the business world and get all grown up. Microsoft would want FB and Yahoo for total identity domination, but smart users will diversify their digital identity…else it get shut down by Yahoo over legal issues.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008.....struction/

JK
DaveS

April 7th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

Hey, I guess they had a case and Zuck really did “misappropriate” the code. Why else would he settle and lose his face over it?!
Andrew Feinberg

April 7th, 2008 at 5:56 pm

The ConnectU guys put no work into anything. They “hired” Zuckerberg (with no contract, payment, or any agreement at all) and left for winter break looking for him to do all the work, and them to take the credit.

When he actually did something with the idea and put real work into it (which they didn’t have the time or inclination to do, seeing as they’d rather row boats) they took their father’s money, started a company, paid a few coders and sued Zuckerberg.

http://www.capitolvalley.net/2.....ir-da.html
Rick Droz

April 7th, 2008 at 6:01 pm

I agree Facebook is overated and but all props for getting all that funding who could’nt make something happen with all that funding. Love ya facebook!!!!!!!!!!
shervin

April 7th, 2008 at 6:06 pm

I guess now Al Gore is going to sue the entire web now since he ‘invented’ it…
John C. McClore

April 7th, 2008 at 6:10 pm

Hard to imagine people would buy into a Facebook IPO. Rather put that money on one hand of blackjack. Probably a smarter investment.
Michael Bakovic

April 7th, 2008 at 6:34 pm

Facebook = overated.

Please check out my site for ways to make money online http://mikesmoneyclub.blogspot.com
will

April 7th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

@ Andrew Feinberg

it doesnt matter how much or how little work the Winkasses put into facebook. (or whether they know how to code or not) A verbal contract is still a contract . . .

Mark deserves all the credit for building a great company, he just doesnt deserve credit for the concept (which I agree is little to no value). But in the end, he did steal it . . .

you have a very naive view of the world and business.. . I wish you luck.
Erik

April 7th, 2008 at 7:36 pm

I’d be surprised if ConnectU got much more than their huge legal bills.

Litigation is really expensive.
matt howard

April 7th, 2008 at 7:39 pm

ConnectU or UConnect… your story and link are not consistent
John C. McClore

April 7th, 2008 at 8:02 pm

@ Erik

Riiight, what kind of settlement would that be, LOL
Alexk

April 7th, 2008 at 8:54 pm

Guys,

1- the idea of a service cannot be trademarked.
2- The graphic chart of Facebook had nothing to do with the original ConnectU’s (they changed it about 6 months ago).
3- We have now to see if Zuck stole the code, but that’s hardly possible to prove. And anyways some people say that the copyrights for the code is the developer’s ownership, especially true if no copyright agreement/contract is signed.

So ConnectU team, your settlement should be worth a bagel (with cream cheese inside though). lol
itstrue

April 7th, 2008 at 10:30 pm

u r gay
Sandeep

April 7th, 2008 at 10:47 pm

What really happened at Harvard will remain a mystery. But ConnectU story does put a stain on Mark.

But who cares? Look at Bill Gates (Apple vs Bill).
Anonymous

April 8th, 2008 at 1:28 am

Hey ConnectU, havent seen such a begger in Silicon Valley. Shame on You
web hosting

April 8th, 2008 at 2:35 am

On the contrary, connectU will face the counter case that looks more stronger at this point.
Paul

April 8th, 2008 at 4:43 am

The original code for FB must have been pretty basic…
Alexk

April 8th, 2008 at 7:19 am

@28

Agree with you but Bill Gates’, and BTW Microsoft’s images are not that good (even though he donated millions to charity so far).
Ivan

April 8th, 2008 at 7:31 am

Did Facebook rape ConnectU or is ConnectU extorting money from Facebook?

Either way you can spin it Facebook loses $10-20 mil.
Allon

April 8th, 2008 at 10:00 am

its a dog eat dog world….he probably stole the code and idea, but ConnectU brothers would not have been able to make their idea turn into a Facebook…that is where the innovation is.
joe

April 8th, 2008 at 10:23 am

I have a question to the Freelance programmers, if a company asks you to write code, is that code the property of that company?

In Zuck’s case, he was asked to code most of the site without ownership or payment. Since the 3 connectU guys were his peers, Zuck could have demanded a stake in ownership if connectU was actually successful. But I agree that if these guys wanted to create a start-up they should have either given an ownership stake or payment, otherwise nothing could have prevented Zuck from going off on his own, which is what he did.
Joshua Konkle

April 8th, 2008 at 11:00 am

@34

Exactly, having an idea is not the same as monetizing it. Most business try to run but they should focus on walking aka PED

Plan
Execute
Deliver

In that order, with control, consistency and then comes cadence, aka the dance.

JK
ODB

April 8th, 2008 at 11:42 am

Absolutely he stole the code!!! Zuckerberg is a total idiot!!!

The real story I want to know… is if Microsoft has stopped laughing about the trick f@#k they gave to Zuckerberg so they could buy Yahoo.

Its just a matter of time before Zuckerberg blows it all up and takes a job at match.com.

ODB
rainbow

April 8th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Yeah, I think this is a “guilty” allegation.
Wes Mahler

April 8th, 2008 at 7:15 pm

Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)

“Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal.”
joe

April 9th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

While unlikely, it will be interesting if they subpoena the original source code for facebook and compare it to the code that Gao wrote for the Brothers. If Zuck viewed the original ConnectU code and used that as the basis for Facebook, then there would be a strong case against him. But if that code didn’t work, and Zuck never submitted anything to ConnectU, then the case is weak, because the Facebook idea is generic, but the source code is proprietary.