Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

Aaron Greenspan wants “veritas” in the Mark Zuckerberg Facebook story: He has reached out to me, and apparently the New York Times as well.

The NYT focuses on one chronological version of Harvard events leading to the Zuckerberg “creation” of Facebook, same as the ConnectU vs. Zuckerberg case does.

What is the REAL story of Zuckerberg’s success though? After all, as the NYT notes:

“If Mr. Zuckerberg did borrow some of Mr. Greeenspan’s concepts, he may have simply been working in a grand Harvard tradition. After all, it was a young Harvard dropout, Bill Gates, and his classmate, Paul Alllen, who almost three decades earlier copied a verison of the BASIC programming language, designed by two Dartmough college professors, to jump-start the company thta would grow into the world’s most powerful software firm.”

In defending Zuckerberg against the ConnectU team’s claims, Facebook attorneys proudly hail:

“Only one had an idea significant enough to build a great company. That one person was Mark Zuckerberg.”

Zuckerberg’s lawyer’s may be on to something; Not the “idea” part though. If “Facebook” was germinating around campus, WHY was 23-year old Zuckerberg the one Harvard guy to break out with a hit, while collaborator and classmate faces were left in the dust?

Greenspan wonders same:

Given that I thought we both looked relatively dorky with standard Jewish features, I couldn’t figure out why The Crimson liked Mark more than it liked me. Consequently, his site’s membership figures went through the roof as people listed each other as friends, while the free press lived up to its name, acting more as his personal public relations firm than an objective observer of campus events.

The media love afair with Zuckerberg continues to surprise. In unveiling F8 to the world, his seemingly inapproriate attire was publicly lauded in the press, along with a perceived Internet Godliness.

MORE: Judge Pokes Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook Love Blooms in Court, too

ALSO: GOOGLE MEDIA: One-Stop News Empire for Stories, Videos AND Letters to the Google Editor and Zoho to the Facebook Rescue? CEO Mocks Zuckerberg Detractors and Buzz Kill: What Would Google Do? DON’T ASK!

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN

If Mark Zuckerberg is called to personally defend himself in a court of law against charges of fraudulently enabling tens of millions of Facebook “friends” would he arrive in the judicial temple in flip-flops?

If so, our honors would not be as forgiving as the Zuckerberg enamored techies that honored the Facebooker in chief in May were when he gave to the world the “Facebook platform.” Or would they?

The federal judge that is presiding over the ConnectU misappropriation of trade secrets lawsuit against Zuckerberg and Facebook appears to be overtly in the Facebook camp, despite being bound by principles of neutrality.

Public reports of Judge Douglas Woodlock’s interactions with the lawyers representing ConnectU interests during a hearing yesterday appear to indicate mocking commentary by the Judge.

Judge Woodlock did not grant the Facebook request for dismissal of the lawsuit, postponing a ruling until at least August 8. Woodlock advised the ConnectU team to return to court with what he would deem to be a stronger case.

Woodlock expressed disdain for the plaintiff’s efforts.

Dorm room chit-chat does not make a contract (between Facebook and ConnectU)

No? Dorm room chit-chat certainly makes for a thriving Facebook platform though! Moreover, oral agreements are often given credence in courts of law.

Judge Woodlock is also said to have insinuated ConnecU is merely toying with the judicial system as a way to blackmail Zuckerberg for a settlement. Really? Then why does the ConnectU team’s legal efforts to seek retribution from Zuckerberg date from his cash-strapped days at Harvard?

One need not be an officer of the court to look the inherent derivative origins of Facebook in its face; Even Wikipedia gets it:

The name of the site refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of the campus community that colleges and prepatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff.

Nevertheless, the Facebook legal team is supremely confident in the supreme Zuckerberg:

Only one had an idea significant enough to build a great company. That one person was Mark Zuckerberg. 

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY MARK!

PLUS: OMG! How LinkedIn Trumps Facebook Pokes and Twitter Grams

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CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN

What is the ultimate danger of building on the Facebook platform? The real risk that ConnectU will succeed in shutting the purported Mark Zuckerberg “production” down.

While the blogosphere has been thanking the mighty tech heavens for enabling the infinite “social graph” wisdom of Mark Zuckerberg to shine upon the Web’s minions, Zuckerberg himself has been dogged by a Harvard legacy of finding his technology “inspiration” in the work of others.

Zuckerberg spin may be spinning the world into a would-be multi-billion dollar Facebook camp, but former Harvard classmates are unmasking the happy face Zuckerberg has put on what they claim is but a derivative work with business deceit at the core of its foundation.

Before Facebook, there was Facemash, a Zuckerberg attempt at a “hot or not” for students, which got him in hot water at Harvard. Zuckerberg was investigated by the University’s Administrative Board for “breaching security, violating copyrights and violating individuals’ privacy by using students’ online facebook photos without permission,” according to the The Harvard Crimson:

“I put Facemash up on a Sunday night and within four hours my Internet connection had been yanked,” Zuckerberg said.

The integrity of Zuckerberg was also called into question at Harvard when he later unleashed Thefacebook. Did Zuckerberg violate Harvard’s honor code, which prohibits theft and dishonesty, by piggybacking his site off of someone else’s property, as the students behind the present ConnectU–Divya Narendra, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss–alleged?

Fast forward to today: The Massachusetts District Court is set to weigh in on the true origins of Zuckerberg’s Facebook in the matter of “Connectu, Inc. v. Facebook, Inc. et al.”

ConnectU is suing Facebook and its executives for copyright infringement, breach of actual or implied contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, unfair business practices, intentional interference with prospective business advantage, breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing, fraud and breach of confidence. Facebook has instituted counterclaims against ConnectU.

Zuckerberg’s Facebook “legend” is that he “created and launched thefacebook.com website in one week,” according to Plaintiff ConnectU. ConnectU contends, however, that the Zuckerberg Facebook which the world has come to know and love is not a true Zuckerberg production, but a derivative work, an unauthorizd infringement of the “copyrighted subjectmatter of the Harvard Connection Code”:

Zuckerberg knowingly made false statement of intention when he agreed to create, complete, and/or provide source code to ConnectU’s predecessors for the Harvard Conection Website.

Among the remedies ConnectU seeks, an injunction enjoining Facebook Defendants:

From operating thefacebook.com website, or any variation of that Website under a different domain name or URL.

Why have purported billion dollar takeover offers for Facebook not come to pass? The true face of Facebook may be the reason, NOT Zuckerberg’s famed self over-valuation, as Mark Zuckerberg, Defendant, fights to keep his Facebook “production” alive.

ALSO: Hello Facebook, Goodbye Privacy: Zuckerberg ‘Social Graph’ NO Safe Haven and Facebook: The Web’s Golden Handcuffs

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN