ConnectU Twins: We Think There's New Evidence That Facebook's Zuckerberg Stole Our Idea

Vasanth Sridharan | June 5, 2008 1:17 PM

connectu.jpegThe founders of ConnectU, who also claim to be the founders of Facebook, are now complaining about a settlement they reached with the social network earlier this year, Bloomberg reports. And they say there's new "smoking gun" evidence that bolsters their original beef.

The problem: The Winklevoss twins don't have the evidence themselves -- they claim it's sitting on Facebook's hard drives. Confused? Read on:

Founders of ConnectU [say] Zuckerberg took their business idea in 2003 while they were students at Harvard University. ConnectU's lawyers said yesterday that the company wants out of the deal, citing what they called new "smoking-gun" evidence allegedly found by a forensic expert on Facebook's computers.

"If we are forced into a settlement, the next step is going to be a fraud claim," ConnectU's attorney, John Hornick, told U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock at a hearing Tuesday in Boston. ConnectU said the new evidence stems from electronic instant messages found on Facebook's computers...

The instant messages were discovered by forensic expert Jeff Parmet, hired by ConnectU to scan Facebook's hard drives following a September court order for new discovery, ConnectU's lawyers said. Parmet was prohibited from discussing with ConnectU anything he found that wasn't computer code.

"Parmet had, nevertheless, obliquely given ConnectU's attorneys reason to believe that there were documents, other than produced program code, on the Facebook hard drives relevant to the case which had not been disclosed," Woodlock said in an order Tuesday.

So what's in those IM's? We asked Hornick, who's representing the brothers Winklevoss. His response: "We don't have them. The courts have them, Facebook has them, but ConnectU doesn't have them." Then he hung up.

Photo: Reuters

See Also:
Facebook Settles ConnectU Founder Lawsuit

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30 Comments

charles d. Weeden said:
It will be a nice summer in Quogue for the BOYS if this is True!
jenkins said:
As someone that has actually gone through the pain of reading many of the court transcripts and harvard notes on this subject I have to say that there is some evidence that a site similar to Facebook did exist, and that it was not owned or conceived by Mark ZuckerBurg.
Does it really matter, though? I'm not aware of Zuckerberg every claiming he thought of the idea himself.

Unless Zuckerberg signed something saying "I won't build a similar business," I think the main problem for the Winklevoss twins is that it's not illegal for someone to say, "That's a GREAT idea!" and then do it themselves. Which is why smart business folks do business with people they trust.
All he/they did was copy Friendster with a better UI, who copied... etc.
Zoe said:
The sole piece of evidence that ConnectU needs is an employment contract for Zuckerberg.

If they find that, they've got a case.

If they don't find that there's nothing here. (still)
Is that right? Wouldn't the agreement have to spell out exactly what they were hiring Zuckerberg to build AND have clauses saying he couldn't quit and build something similar for someone else?
Charles D Weeden said:
Henry-

You are right-No Massachusetts Judge is going to overturn the settlement unless there is definitive BOC (Breach of Contract). Granted the BOYS did pay ZUCK to build a site for them + Zuck did use the code he wrote to create his own site. Its inconceivable to imagine with a Baller Litigator like the VOSS boys have for a father that they did not cover their rumple-stil-skins. (Disclosure- I went to harvard with the crew and my legal skills are honed from my experience of going to be a 1L in two months!)
StockJockey (URL) said:
Their parents sold the Quogue house. Nantucket might have to suffice.
Charles D. Weeden said:
'And she stepped on the Ball'
Gordon said:
"Get real, would ya? You and I are both like guys who had this rich neighbor - Xerox - who left the door open all the time. And you go sneakin' in to steal a TV set. Only when you get there, you realize that I got there first. I got the loot, Steve! And you're yellin'? "That's not fair. I wanted to try to steal it first." You're too late." - Bill Gates, "Pirates of Silicon Valley"
Charles said:
Yeah, you know one time I had this idea for a movie, about a boy who meets a girl. They have some ups and downs but live happily after.

I was talking about it in a Denny's restaurant in West Hollywood in about 1950. You know what? I think someone overheard me and stole my idea.

Because about every year since 1950 there has been a boy-meets-girl-and-lives-happily-ever-after movie coming out of Hollywood.

I'm gonna to sue all those bastards, I tell ya.

purple haze said:
i wish i were in quougue right now. but beyond that, what if zuck had pulled a "quattrone" and IM'd something to the effect of: we need to remove all code that includes "x" because that was code i did as a work for hire for connectU and they're going to be able to inspect our code next month - wouldn't that help out the BOYS?
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Zuckerberg is like Suckerberg but with a Z. Coincidence?
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640-802 ConnectU Twins: We Think There's New Evidence That Facebook's Zuckerberg Stole Our Idea Day and night. Did you see the way she touches him? So affectionate.

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