A federal appeals court has refused to reconsider its decision to force Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss to accept a $65 million settlement from Facebook.
The twins, fellow-students of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard, claim he stole their idea for the site. Back in 2008, they accepted $20 million and a substantial number of shares in settlement – but later complained, saying that Zuckerberg had kept certain information secret at the time, and that the agreement therefore wasn’t valid.
They say Zuckerberg misled them about the value of Facebook shares, which aren’t publicly traded. They’re beleived to want an extra $100 million, following a $450 million invemestment from Goldman Sachs.
In April, the appeals court ruled that their attempt was invalid.
“For whatever reason, they now want to back out. Like the district court, we see no basis for allowing them to do so,” said chief justice Alex Kozinski. “At some point, litigation must come to an end. That point has now been reached.”
Undaunted, the pair asked for a review by a full panel of 11 judges.
But the earlier decision has been upheld, without any explanation this time.
The Wiklevosses appear to be men with a mission, as they still don’t plan to give up. Instead, their lawyers – Howard Rice – have announced that the pair plan to take their case all the way to the Supreme Court.
Great material for The Social Network II – perhaps.
