Facebook heads for ConnectU turn

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 8 Apr 2008 at 10:35

Facebook is on the verge of settling its long standing lawsuit with ConnectU, the company which claimed the social-networking site stole its idea.

The report in the New York Times, claims a motion to dismiss will arrive in the next few weeks.

The lawsuit was brought last year and accused Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg of stealing ConnectU's businesses plan when they were students at Harvard.

The company went onto claim that Zuckerberg then deliberately stalled development of ConnectU in order to launch Facebook six month earlier.

Facebook attempted to have the case dismissed but a US court ruled against it, a move which appears to have persuaded Facebook to settle.

The case has already proven a public relations disaster for Zuckerberg, with the prosecution unearthing a range of personal documents in an attempt to portray him as an arrogant, unscrupulous businessman.