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Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

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Re: Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

#31

Post by ary »

"Behind every great fortune there is a crime." - Honore de Balzac

This is getting a bit tiresome. Tiresome to hear about, tiresome to watch, and certainly tiresome to think about. At a gut level I think this isn't the last contest for ownership of something with debatable value. 500,000,000 sets of eyeballs have quite a bit of potential, but what guarantee is there of revenue? Facebook, like Paris Hilton, is popular for being popular. Why is Facebook valuable? No one can say. This is lost on just about everyone.

I suppose I could have just noted that it would be nice if they'd do something worth talking about once in a while instead of getting sued at an interval.

Re: Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

#32

Post by Alex3917 »

Elite wrote: post #27
hop wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a copy of that document floating around?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34239119/Ceglia-v-Zuckerberg-compl... 2003 Contract starts on page 11

On the last page there is a scan of a bank deposit slip with the routing number on the bottom. If the bank deposit slip is real then shouldn't it be possible to verify that with the bank's records?

Re: Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

#33

Post by thinkcomp »

Elite wrote: post #29
thinkcomp wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi. I'd never heard of Ceglia until a few days ago. Mark certainly didn't tell me about him, just like he didn't tell me about the Winklevosses. By the time Mark talked to me in person he was already a member of houseSYSTEM's facebook. Here's the timeline of events from my company's trademark proceedings which were filed based in part on the claim (at the time, which has now been settled) that "facebook" is a generic…

"had just been disciplined for ignoring privacy issues I considered important" Details?

http://www.thinkpress.com/authoritas/index.html?page=303

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/11/19/facemash-creato...

Re: Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

#34

Post by FlemishBeeCycle »

bosch wrote: post #28
jrockway wrote: post #3

They should hire Lisa's brother, Bart, as co-counsel.

I thought that was pretty funny. I don't understand the harshness with which people vote down jokes on here.

If you're familiar with the content on Reddit, where the first 50% of the comments are puns and memes - not having to wade through that is actually quite refreshing. As to the harshness, I imagine people want to nip that behavior in the bud?

Re: Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

#35

Post by startuprules »

keltex wrote: post #25
Timothee wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is, if his claim has any truth to it and if he doesn't settle out of court, which might be likely to happen considering what is at stake. (cf. previous Facebook lawsuits) I'm definitely curious about how that kind of things are handled, where a previous contract appears out of nowhere, completely changing how later contracts and investments would have happened.

If the previous contract is deemed valid, then the later contracts are usually "breached" and they can sue for damages. This means that the first investors all the way until through the latest investors have contracts signed by Zuckerberg or company executives stating the beneficial ownership. And this ownership is no longer accurate.

Nobody crosses the Russia Mafia....I mean investors.

Re: Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

#36

Post by startuprules »

tamarindo wrote: post #6

Facebook claims Ceglia remained silent for more than six years and his claim is probably too old to pursue. Have any independent legal experts corroborated Facebook's statement that "his claim is too old to pursue"?

"Ceglia may be planning to argue that the statute of limitations didn't start until the contract was breached, which would have set the clock ticking in 2004, said Scott & Scott partner Julie Machal-Fulks."

Check my response http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1533668

Re: Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

#37

Post by n8agrin »

ary wrote: post #31

"Behind every great fortune there is a crime." - Honore de Balzac This is getting a bit tiresome. Tiresome to hear about, tiresome to watch, and certainly tiresome to think about. At a gut level I think this isn't the last contest for ownership of something with debatable value. 500,000,000 sets of eyeballs have quite a bit of potential , but what guarantee is there of revenue? Facebook, like Paris Hilton, is popular…

I'm pretty sure Facebook has been cash flow positive for a while. Here's the Techcrunch article about it from nearly a year ago: http://techcrunch.com/2009/09/15/facebook-crosses-300-millio...

Also here's a report from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65H01W20100618

Well, at least you got to quote Monsieur Balzac. Hell of a name.

Re: Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

#38

Post by bosch »

FlemishBeeCycle wrote: post #34
bosch wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought that was pretty funny. I don't understand the harshness with which people vote down jokes on here.

If you're familiar with the content on Reddit, where the first 50% of the comments are puns and memes - not having to wade through that is actually quite refreshing. As to the harshness, I imagine people want to nip that behavior in the bud?

I agree with you on that point, but I mean for a comment that had nothing to do with either a pun or a meme it's kinda ridiculous. This site will be like straight html without any css... and I think a bit of the later helps the former create a good atmosphere.

Re: Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

#39

Post by joezydeco »

joubert wrote: post #30
jrockway wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if the new owner decides to "generate revenue" by selling your personal information to the highest bidder, and then turns the site off? Reselling the information is cheaper than keeping a bunch of programmers and sysadmins employed, after all.

class action lawsuit perhaps?

You plan to ask for a refund? Nobody asked or paid 500 million users to put their entire lives online.

Re: Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

#40

Post by joshu »

swernli wrote: post #18
Elite wrote: post #14

According to the above Bloomberg Article: Ceglia claims his alleged contract, which refers to " The Face Book " was signed about nine months before Facebook was founded, the company said in court papers. According to the NYT from 2007: http://nyti.ms/cC0HwJ "An e-mail message, circulated widely by Mr. Greenspan to Harvard students on Sept. 19, 2003, describes the newest feature of houseSYSTEM, as " The Face Book " an…

The term "Face Book" as a resource for seeing peoples names and a info along with a photo in a less formal yearbook-style setting is not new at all. My high school had a "Face book" in paperback form that was distributed at the beginning of the year to help folks get to know one another. That was in 2001. The Harvard site was merely an online version of this kind of flat, searchable list, with no user edittable conte…

Indeed. CMU sent me a freshman face book in 1992...
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