Facebook v Winklevoss twins feud comes to an end

The saga of the Winklevoss twins and Facebook Chief Executive, Mark Zuckerberg became silver screen hit with the release of the film “The Social Network” last year. The movie showed the long drawn legal battle between the Harvard classmates..The saga of the Winklevoss twins and Facebook Chief Executive, Mark Zuckerberg became silver screen hit with the release of the film “The Social Network” last year. The movie showed the long drawn legal battle between the Harvard classmates..Mark Zuckerberg has now won the legal battle against former Harvard classmates who accused him of stealing their idea for Facebook. A three-judge appeals court panel ruled that the Winklevoss twins must accept a cash and stock settlement with Facebook that had been valued at $65 million. The 2008 settlement for $20 million in cash plus 1.25 million shares in Facebook is now estimated to be worth approximately $160 million..The Winklevoss twins, along with Divya Narendra, started a company called ConnectU while at Harvard. They claim that Zuckerberg stole their idea and created Facebook, which the company now denies. The trio originally agreed to the aforementioned settlement of 2008. However, they now argue that, based on an internal valuation that Facebook did not reveal, they should have received more Facebook shares as part of the deal..The twins argued that they were misled into believing Facebook was worth $35.90 a share because of an investment by Microsoft Corp. However, within a couple of months of signing the deal, they learned Facebook valued itself at $8.88 for tax purposes..A lower court had previously granted Facebook’s request to enforce the settlement with the Winklevoss twins and Narendra. The 9th Circuit has now upheld the decision of lower court and has agreed to enforce the settlement..The court in its order said “the Winklevosses are not the first parties bested by a competitor who then seek to gain through litigation what they were unable to achieve in the marketplace. And the courts might have obliged, had the Winklevosses not settled their dispute and signed a release of all claims against Facebook .With the help of a team of lawyers and a financial advisor, they made a deal that appears quite favorable in light of recent market activity (Facebook Deal Raises $1 Billion, Wall St. J., Jan. 22, 2011) . For whatever reason, they now want to back out. Like the district court, we see no basis for allowing them to do so. At some point, litigation must come to an end. That point has now been reached”..The twins’ lawyer said they will seek a rehearing with the entire appeals court bench. It appears that the case will be revived again and it could be a big headache for the fast-growing social networking firm..Facebook was represented by E. Joshua Rosenkranz of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Amlaw reported that Winklevosses’ former lawyers at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan are trying hard to recover their fees. Quinn Emanuel has been fighting since 2008 to get their hands on a $13 million contingency fee for the firm’s work on the Facebook settlement. Manhattan state Supreme Court justice Richard Lowe III confirmed the award in November 2010, but Judge Ware ordered the fees to remain in escrow pending the outcome of the Ninth Circuit appeal..With the dispute before Ninth Circuit now closed, may be the lawyers at Quin Emanuel can recover their fees!.Facebook is also facing another suit over its origins in New York state, where wood-pellet salesman Paul Ceglia claims he has a 2003 contract with Zuckerberg that entitles him to an 84 percent stake in the company. That case is making its way through the courts.