Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Court hears trio's Facebook case

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The Winklevoss twins tell Rory Cellan-Jones in April 2010 that they will continue their fight

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Three men who say Mark Zuckerberg stole the Facebook concept from them have asked a US appeals court to re-open a $65m (�42m) legal settlement with the company.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss and Divya Narendra argue Facebook undervalued its share price when they struck the deal.

With the company now valued at about $50bn, they charge the deception cost them millions and now want more money.

Mr Zuckerberg, who was at Harvard with the three men, has denied the claims.

In a courtroom in San Francisco, lawyers for the Winklevoss twins and Mr Narendra asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to allow them to re-open a $65m settlement forged in 2008 after they sued the company.

Facebook agreed to the settlement to end "rancorous litigation" but did not admit Mr Zuckerberg had taken their idea.

Senior Judge Clifford Wallace said on Tuesday that the twins had several lawyers representing them at the earlier settlement talks, and that that their father was a business expert, factors he suggested made it hard to believe that anyone took advantage of them.

At the scene

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This long-drawn-out legal battle was immortalised by Hollywood in a hit movie last year.

Today, the drama enveloping Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss was played out in courtroom three of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The identical twins in dark suits sat stony-faced in the front row as they heard their lawyer argue that they had been robbed of millions of dollars in the deal.

But Facebook lawyer Joshua Rosenkranz said the twins were never interested in pinning down a valuation for Facebook. "They were more interested in owning a portion of the world's hottest start-up," he said.

In what seemed like a less than sympathetic line of questioning, Senior Judge Clifford Wallace pointed out that the Winklevoss twins had several lawyers in the room at the time representing them in the talks.

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"I agree my clients were not behind the barn door when brains were passed out," said Jerome Falk, a lawyer for the twins.

The three men are effectively gambling the $65m settlement, analysts say. If the court unwinds the agreement, Facebook will have to decide whether to offer more money or fight it out in court.

Facebook's lawyers have dismissed the claims as a case of "settlers' remorse".

In the 2008 settlement, the brothers received $20m in cash and $45m in stock, based on a $36 per share valuation, Mr Falk said before the hearing.

He argues Facebook had agreed to a $9 per share price in a compensation offer to employees, a price they say the company was obligated to disclosed.

"This was a highly material fact and the fact they didn't disclose it is a violation of federal security law," Mr Falk told BBC News.

He said as a result the brothers were due four times the 1.25 million shares they were awarded.

The $65m deal was made up of $20m in cash and $45m in shares now worth $140m. Had the lower valuation been used, the shares would be worth $600m today.

Facebook's legal team disagreed, arguing that the company was under no obligation to reveal an internal valuation.

The internal valuation was an opinion and there were other valuations out there that the twins could have used, lawyer Joshua Rosenkranz said.

After the hearing the Winklevoss brothers, who are elite rowers, declined to comment except to say they looked forward to the court's decision. A ruling is not expected for two to three months.



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