Facebook says contract's facts and dates are off.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers a keynote address at a conference in San Francisco, Wednesday, April 21, 2010. The seven-year-old contract signed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg which was put in place to grant a Wellsville, N.Y. businessman an ownership stake in Zuckerberg’s Web project could be the real deal, according to a Facebook lawyer.
Paul Ceglia sued Facebook and Zuckerberg last month, claiming that he had hired Zuckerberg in 2003 to work on two different business ventures. The first project was the develop and maintain software for a database and the second was to continue development of an in-profess Web project which, according to the contract, was to be used to “to offer the students of Harvard university access to a website similar to a live functioning yearbook with the working title of 'The Face Book.'"
A local judge granted Ceglia’s request to prevent Facebook from transferring or selling any of its assets. Facebook responded to this restraining order by transferring the case to federal court, where the restraining order was suspended late last week.
Ceglia and Facebook have agreed to let the injunction lapse for now.
Zuckerberg and Ceglia did at one time work together, Facebook’s lawyers said.
According to CNN, Ceglia’s attorney confirmed that his client hired Zuckerberg to work as a coder for a database. The contract that was instated for the work covered both the database and an investment in a side project Zuckerberg was working on. The side project grew to be Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site.
Facebook has said that the facts and timing of the case are off. Ceglia’s contract is dated April 23, 2003, which is several months before Zuckerberg had reported started to work on Facebook. Facebook’s original domain, “thefacebook.com” was registered in January 2004.
Ceglia’s attorneys say that their client’s case is strong. CNN reports that a court filing from the attorneys states, “the contract is real, as is plaintiff’s entitlement to at least a 50% ownership interest in Facebook.”
Facebook maintains that Ceglia’s case is frivolous.
Here's the latest on the Facebook ownership case:
»CNN: Facebook 'unsure' if founder signed ownership contract
»LA Times: Facebook founder may have given up ownership stake
»Bloomberg: Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract
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