Judge Rules Winklevoss vs. Facebook Case Closed

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Facebook has been beset with much litigation lately, but it seems to have had a win (of sorts), with a federal judge closing the settled Winklevoss case against them, ruling that the settlement was enough.

Recall that Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss wanted to reopen the settled ownership case that they had filed against Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook had settled the dispute in 2008 by awarding the twins $20 million in cash and a small percentage ownership in Facebook. They claimed that the amount settled (then valued at $65 million) was not enough, given recent developments in Facebook’s market valuation that significantly boosted the value of each share.

Today, the Winklevoss’ share in Facebook, plus the cash settlement, is valued at about $160 million. The judge seems to think that the settlement was final, and that the amount was enough, citing that the justice system might have agreed with them had they not formally signed off a release on their previous claims.

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.

The Winklevosses have claimed from the start that Facebook was originally their ConnectU idea, and that Mark Zuckerberg repurposed the code he was developing into what is now Facebook.

Do you think the settlement is fair, given the circumstances? Do you think Mark Zuckerberg took the Facebook idea from other people (which a lot of people seem to claim)?