Winklevoss twins give up Facebook claim -Governance Now

Winklevoss twins give up Facebook claim

Not to seek a review of the ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that had upheld the USD 65 million cash-and-stock settlement'

PTI | June 24, 2011

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's former Harvard classmates Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have decided not to pursue their legal battle against the billionaire CEO over a dispute related to the idea of developing the popular social-networking site.

In a San Francisco federal court filing, the Winklevoss twins said they have decided not to seek a review of the ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that had upheld the USD 65 million cash-and-stock settlement reached with Zuckerberg in 2008.

A fight that inspired a Oscar-winning movie 'The Social Network' seen its finale when in the one-paragraph court filing, Cameron and Tyler said they would accept the USD 65 million settlement and "careful consideration" they would not file a petition to take their battle to the Supreme Court.

The Winklevosses had been trying to undo the settlement, saying that Facebook had held back information about the real value of its shares when the settlement was reached.

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement: "We have considered this case closed for a long time, and we are pleased to see the other party now agrees."

The Court of Appeals had in May rejected a bid by the twins to have a panel of 11 judges to review a ruling made earlier by a three-justice panel.

The three-judge panel had said that the litigation in the case "must come to an end" and threw out the bid by the Winkevosses to review the USD 65 million settlement.

The two had then decided they would appeal to the US Supreme Court.

In the settlement reached two years ago, the Winklevosses had got USD 20 million in cash and USD 45 million worth of stock valued at USD 36 per share.

While, the twins will have to live with the Facebook settlement they received, they still plan to pursue another legal battle against Facebook.

In April, they had asked a federal court in Boston to look into their claims that Facebook and its lawyers hid instant messages from them during litigation.

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