Winklevoss Facebook row continues

25 June 2011 Last updated at 09:08 GMT The Winklevoss twins claimed that Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea to set up Facebook The Winklevoss brothers have re-started their long-running legal dispute with Facebook and its boss Mark Zuckerberg.

Just days after dropping a supreme court action, the twins filed a fresh lawsuit against the company.

It claims that Facebook "intentionally or inadvertently suppressed evidence" during their previous litigation.

Originally, Tyler and Cameron accused Mr Zuckerberg of stealing their idea to create the site.

The story of the feud formed the core of the 2010 film "The Social Network".

The row dates from 2003 when the Winklevosses hired Mr Zuckerberg to write code for their ConnectU site while at Harvard.

He never did, but instead set up Facebook, which quickly became a success around the world.

A court case over who did what was resolved in 2008 when the parties agreed on a financial settlement, reportedly worth around $65m (?41m).

In January 2011 the Winklevosses tried to reopen the case, seeking more money. However, a US appeals court ruled in April that they would have to accept the settlement.

The twins initially said they would appeal against the settlement, but decided this week not to pursue that legal avenue.

New lawsuit Facebook quickly became popular around the world

In the most recent suit filed on Thursday with the US District Court of Massachusetts, the Winklevosses and their business partner Divya Narendra said that Facebook hid some crucial information from them during settlement proceedings.

The twins said that Mr Zuckerberg did not disclose some important documents in regards to the relationship between him and the brothers while they were at Harvard.

Facebook's outside counsel Neel Chatterjee said in a statement: "These are old and baseless allegations that have been considered and rejected previously by the courts."

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Winklevoss twins end Facebook row

23 June 2011 Last updated at 09:59 GMT The Winklevosses say Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea for a social network site The Winklevoss brothers, Harvard contemporaries of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, have ended their legal battle with the social network.

They reached a $65m (?41m) settlement in 2008, after claiming that Mr Zuckerberg stole their idea.

The legal spat was immortalised in the film "The Social Network".

In January they attempted to reopen the case, claiming that they should have received more shares than the $45m they agreed on.

They sought to undo the settlement of $20m in cash and $45m in stock - now worth more than $100m.

A US appeals court ruled in April that they could not back out of the deal.

The pair had threatened to go to US Supreme Court to overturn the decision but have now said they will not pursue it.

They offered no statement on what had prompted their decision to abandon the suit.

The twins originally argued that Mr Zuckerberg had stolen their idea after he was hired by them to code their ConnectU site in 2003.

Facebook has always rejected the claims but agreed to the 2008 settlement to end what it called "rancorous litigation".

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