ConnectU and Thefacebook face off
Discovery phase in lawsuit begins this month, but trial uncertain
Hannah Miller
Issue date: 3/7/05 Section: Campus News
Will facebook-messaging and compulsive profile-checking soon become activities of the past? A lawsuit filed by ConnectU.com, a social networking Web site for college students, has put Thefacebook.com on the line - the founders of ConnectU claim that Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard sophomore and the mastermind behind Thefacebook, stole the technology for Thefacebook while working for ConnectU in late 2003.
The lawsuit's discovery period, when both sides request pertinent information and documents, will begin this month. If there is to be a trial, it will happen within the next two years. Chris Hughes, Thefacebook's co-founder and spokesman, said he was skeptical the case would go to court. Over 90 percent of cases like this one never go to trial, he said.
Thefacebook.com is an online directory that connects people through social networks at 431 colleges and universities in the United States, the U.K. and Canada, allowing students to view other students' photos, hobbies, political views and dating preferences. Current membership exceeds 2 million users and the current growth rate is estimated at 10,000 new members per day, according to Hughes.
In a face-to-face comparison, ConnectU.com is almost identical to Thefacebook.com, offering many of the same features.
ConnectU was founded by a group of recent Harvard graduates, who allege that Zuckerberg stole the exact source code and business model from them while working for ConnectU before the site was launched.
After developing the idea for ConnectU, which was then called HarvardConnection, founders Divya Narendra, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss hired Zuckerberg to work as a programmer for their site, according to a complaint filed Sept. 2, 2004, in Massachusetts District Court.
The ConnectU creators claim that they had an oral contract with Zuckerberg, who signed on to the project in late 2003 but was not paid. By early 2004, Zuckerberg was purportedly neglecting his responsibilities as programmer, thus delaying ConnectU's launch. Then, in February 2004, he launched Thefacebook.com. ConnectU was launched in May.
The lawsuit's discovery period, when both sides request pertinent information and documents, will begin this month. If there is to be a trial, it will happen within the next two years. Chris Hughes, Thefacebook's co-founder and spokesman, said he was skeptical the case would go to court. Over 90 percent of cases like this one never go to trial, he said.
Thefacebook.com is an online directory that connects people through social networks at 431 colleges and universities in the United States, the U.K. and Canada, allowing students to view other students' photos, hobbies, political views and dating preferences. Current membership exceeds 2 million users and the current growth rate is estimated at 10,000 new members per day, according to Hughes.
In a face-to-face comparison, ConnectU.com is almost identical to Thefacebook.com, offering many of the same features.
ConnectU was founded by a group of recent Harvard graduates, who allege that Zuckerberg stole the exact source code and business model from them while working for ConnectU before the site was launched.
After developing the idea for ConnectU, which was then called HarvardConnection, founders Divya Narendra, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss hired Zuckerberg to work as a programmer for their site, according to a complaint filed Sept. 2, 2004, in Massachusetts District Court.
The ConnectU creators claim that they had an oral contract with Zuckerberg, who signed on to the project in late 2003 but was not paid. By early 2004, Zuckerberg was purportedly neglecting his responsibilities as programmer, thus delaying ConnectU's launch. Then, in February 2004, he launched Thefacebook.com. ConnectU was launched in May.