The billionaire’s battle over the founding of Facebook is finally over.
On Monday (4/11), The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that the Olympic-rowing twins who accused Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for the social-networking site must stick to 2008 settlement with Facebook.
The settlement that the Winklevosses will have to take —consists of $20 million in cash and a percentage of company ownership— has been previously valued at $65 million, but may presently be worth more than $100 million due to appreciation in Facebook stock’s value.
All the litigiousness between Zuckerberg and the twin brothers has been so dramatic that it was the subject of the almost Oscar-winning movie, “The Social Network.”
The twins and fellow Harvard student Divya Narendra first filed suit against Facebook in 2004, accusing fellow student Mark Zuckerberg of taking their idea for college social network ConnectU (originally dubbed the Harvard Connection) and turning it into Facebook. They alleged that Zuckerberg not only stole the idea and the code, but also stalled them so he could get his site, then named “thefacebook.com,” out first.
Zuckerberg and Facebook deny the allegations but agreed to settle in 2008. Since then, the Winklevosses have attempted to secure a higher settlement.
