

Winklevoss twins' new Facebook lawsuit rejected by judge - jvc26
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/07/25/facebook_wins_winklevoss_lawsuit/

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TamDenholm
I dont really see what they hope to achieve, i think they want 100% ownership
of Facebook or something. 65 million is a nice chunk of change and its not
like they were poor to begin with. You'd think they'd stop allowing this issue
to control their lives and focus their drive into something more constructive.
They're unlikely to topple Facebook, so why not pick a different industry and
dominate that, its not like they dont have the resources or intelligence to be
able to do it. If they could get over their egos they could become extremely
successful.

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noonespecial
I'd say they already are. They've made a career out of suing Facebook, and a
lucrative one at that. Its not great smalltalk when "what do you do?" comes up
at cocktail parties, but they could always use their facebook money to throw
their own party...

I don't think they are actually that involved. I'm guessing their army of
lawyers are constantly thinking up ways to try to get more money beating this
particular dead horse and the twins are just giving the nod. $65m already, why
not?

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michaeldhopkins
Yes, I think this is it. They have few fixed legal costs since their lawyers
likely will be paid out of winnings, the potential gain is enormous, and their
reputation has already been made so there's little to lose socially and they
might increase their prestige if they win more control, which is possible.

I do not care for them but they would need to practice an increasingly rare
business philosophy to find the strength to turn down this opportunity for
more money and prestige.

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rglover
This frightens me. Not that the judge rejected their lawsuit (that's excellent
news), but rather, that it's obvious that no amount of money can make these
two happy. Not only is $65M a lot of money, but in all honesty, it's a stretch
that it's even theirs. Even if they _did_ have the original idea for Facebook,
their execution of that idea was so ghastly that it doesn't even matter. If
these two were real entrepreneurs, they'd be thankful for the outrageous sum
they've already received and put it into a new company. Speaking of which, are
they seriously operating under the DBA of ConnectU just to hassle Facebook?

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mikendn
Actually, their "winning" is a lot more than $65M. They took $20M in cash, and
the rest in facebook stock, which has increased from the 15B valuation to
anything from 50B to 70B now on the private secondary markets.

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rglover
That fact makes me cringe.

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parfe
After making $65 million for doing nothing these guys are still seeing dollar
signs. They found a golden ticket and are still whining they weren't given the
candy factory.

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powertower
You Know What's Cooler Than 65 Million Dollars? 6.5 Billion Dollars!

On a serious note, I kind of wonder if there is more to this story than just
mark stalling the twins. e.g., they claimed on a show that there was much more
than they could talk about due to the settlement -- such as mark using the
ConnectU code.

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mcknz
Of course, the fact that code exists in ConnectU namespace does not
necessarily make it unique or valuable.

 _He lifted our entire DB layer!_

Someone needs to tell these guys that they already won.

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sedev
I can't decide if that shows whether these guys would be good or bad
entrepreneurs. This kind of insane persistence in pursuit of what you believe
in is sometimes a good sign for starting a business. On the other hand, they
have made some very poor choices in that pursuit, and they've demonstrated
that money is far more important to them than it is to the entrepreneurs that
I admire.

Independent of that, they're exercising a non-trivial chilling effect on
startups at the earliest stages, so I hate 'em for that, and I am deeply
suspicious of the class angle - these guys are sons of wealth, I can't imagine
they've ever known serious privation in their lives, and they're trying to
squeeze still more money from someone who, much as I dislike him, earned it by
working his ass off.

If I were a Randian, I'd be the kind of Randian who believes that the wealthy
are the real parasites, for exactly reasons like this.

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jonnathanson
_"these guys are sons of wealth, I can't imagine they've ever known serious
privation in their lives, and they're trying to squeeze still more money from
someone who, much as I dislike him, earned it by working his ass off."_

True, but with a few asterisks.

First: Zuckerberg himself didn't exactly go hungry as a kid. AFAIK, he came
from a fairly well to do -- probably upper middle class, though certainly not
Winklevoss-class -- background.

The class angle certainly makes unsympathetic villains of the Winklevosses,
but their actions -- not our best guesses at their upbringing -- are the real
reasons to revile them.

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shapoopy
Likewise, as much as the last name "Winklevoss" makes me want them to be the
stuck-up rich assholes to Zuckerberg's self-made work ethic, Zuckerberg did go
to Harvard from Phillips-Exeter Academy.

Financial Aid can do wonders, but that kind of track record spits money.

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treysome
Did Zuck steal their idea...maybe a little. But it was his brilliance that
made Facebook into what it is today. They should take their $65 mil and be
happy with it.

