The feud between the Winklevoss twins and Mark Zuckerberg over who came up with the idea to create Facebook has taken another turn. Having just days before dropped a supreme court action, the twins are now pursuing a fresh lawsuit against the company.
The dispute goes to 2003 when the Winklevosses hired Mr Zuckerberg to write code for their ConnectU site while at Harvard. A resolution was reached in 2008 when the parties agreed on a financial settlement, reportedly worth around $65m (£41m) that was paid to the twins. But in January 2011 the Winklevosses tried to reopen the case, looking to increase the amount of the settlement. However, in April a US appeals court ruled that they would have to accept the settlement. The twins had originally planned to appeal against the ruling, but this week decided not to pursue that legal path.
In the latest suit filed on Thursday with the US District Court of Massachusetts, the Winklevosses and their business partner Divya Narendra claim that Facebook hid some critical information from them during settlement proceedings. The twins said that Mr Zuckerberg did not disclose some important documents pertaining to the relationship between him and the brothers while they were at Harvard.
Facebook’s outside counsel Neel Chatterjee said in a statement: “These are old and baseless allegations that have been considered and rejected previously by the courts.”