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Winklevoss Twins Finally Give Up Fighting Facebook

An anonymous reader writes "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's former Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss, who accuse him of stealing their idea for the social network, have decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court. In a filing today with the federal court in San Francisco, the duo said that after 'careful consideration,' they decided not to seek Supreme Court review of the $65 million settlement."

33 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. First! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    First! Unless Mark wants it instead... I could use $65M

  2. I would have given up a while ago by the_humeister · · Score: 4, Insightful

    and bought my own tropical island to live on.

    1. Re:I would have given up a while ago by LS · · Score: 2

      These guys never had a problem getting to a tropical island, so this was not about getting enough money to retire.

      --
      There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
  3. The preferred nomenclature by IvyMike · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude, the preferred nomenclature is "Winklevii".

    1. Re:The preferred nomenclature by guspasho · · Score: 2

      Walter, this isn't a guy who built the railroads here.

  4. Thank Goodness! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been having a hard time sleeping at night, with all this uncertainty as to which set of narcissistic pricks would end up minting a giant pile of pretend internet money during the fools-from-their-money-parted IPO... I feel so much better now that the matter is settled.

    1. Re:Thank Goodness! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Normally jealousy is unbecoming, but it looks fabulous on you.

  5. On the plus side by Darth_brooks · · Score: 2

    In ten or so years when Facebook goes the way of AOL (Because, lets be honest, facebook will somehow die. Eventually.) the Winkelvoss twins will be the ones who came out ahead.

    --
    There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
    1. Re:On the plus side by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Would Facebook then be the first company in history to die without its top executives cashing out and retiring rich?

    2. Re:On the plus side by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 2

      What makes that the "plus side?"

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    3. Re:On the plus side by TheTurtlesMoves · · Score: 2

      Younger generations? Like my 59 year old mum and 65 year old step dad? I am the only one without a facebook account in my entire extended family. Facebook beat myspace because it has better general appeal. Not just the younger folks.

      --
      The Grey Goo disaster happened 3 billion years ago. This rock is covered in self replicating machines!
    4. Re:On the plus side by CapnStank · · Score: 2

      And that's sort of another thing facebook has going for it. As crappy as the API is most developers looking to cache in on the social networking scheme see a greater opportunity tying in their idea to facebook rather than trying to compete with it.

  6. Stealing underpants for real cash by nighty5 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    1) intend to launch a social network based on academia but do hardly anything
    2) ???
    3) profit!

    1. Re:Stealing underpants for real cash by joeflies · · Score: 2

      I think we know what Step #2 and #3 are

      2) Sue

      3) Sue Again!

    2. Re:Stealing underpants for real cash by bjd1970 · · Score: 2

      Your comments are of course based on the movie rather than the facts.

    3. Re:Stealing underpants for real cash by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 2

      ...and your comment is based on what, exactly?

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    4. Re:Stealing underpants for real cash by kodomo · · Score: 2

      Are really based on the trailer.. I didn't see the movie

  7. Maybe because of their OTHER lawsuit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It was just announced that they are going after the Doublemint Twins. Hoping for double the pleasure and double the fun.

  8. none of this was really that surprising by v1 · · Score: 2

    they'd already won 65mil$, they had plenty of spare money to piss away trying to get a lot more. Even if their lawyers said hey you have about a 2% chance of winning, it'd still be worth the try.

    I wonder if zuck will go after legal fees? again that's just a drop in both of their buckets at this point though. As usual, "the only winners are the lawyers".

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  9. Just a thought... by zill · · Score: 3, Interesting

    $65 million

    Suppose I had a nemesis and I won the lottery, I would immediately send my nemesis a check for $1000 just to piss him off. He would anguish over it for weeks and would never cash it in the end.

    Seeing as how Zuckerberg's personal wealth is around $13.5 billion, this $65 million probably served a similar purpose.

    1. Re:Just a thought... by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 2

      Except that it was not voluntary (he was kind of forced to make a settlement, since the court case was going to be pretty tough) and that it is enough money that the twins will never have to work again, if they choose not to. They say $1 million is not what it used to be; somehow I get the feeling that $65 million is what it used to be.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    2. Re:Just a thought... by nomadic · · Score: 3, Informative

      They come from family money, too; their father runs a successful actuarial consulting company that I've dealt with, and if he chose they could have never worked again without the $65 million dollars.

    3. Re:Just a thought... by SlithyMagister · · Score: 5, Funny

      Just in case -- I am now your nemesis
      --but I WILL cash it

    4. Re:Just a thought... by DigiShaman · · Score: 2

      I agree. 13.5 billion is a lot of money. But maintaining that kind of wealth requires Zuckerberg to remain in the spotlight for 40+ hours a week. That life is not for me (if I can help it). Ya, I'd be miffed -for a moment-, but who wouldn't be if your objective is to run a small business and become modestly wealthy. Little did all three know...

      After receiving 65 million, I would have tipped my hat to Zuckerberg and left quietly in the night. My next stop would be a world of permanent vacation without a financial care in the world.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    5. Re:Just a thought... by petermgreen · · Score: 2

      It depends how you define "work".

      Was writing harry potter "work"?
      Is leading microsoft or apple "work"?
      Is leading the bill and melinda gate's foundation "work"?
      Is leading canonical "work"?

      Some people actually enjoy the work they do and when you are rich you can do it on your terms since you have the capital to invest in setting up your own buisnesses to work in rather than working for "the man".

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
  10. Tinfoil already? by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 2

    Where do you buy the tinfoil for your hats? I think I know which company to invest my money in.

    Yes, there was something strange about the source of money that went into creating Facebook, but somehow I doubt that the CIA thought that social networking websites were going to help track down targets. More likely, they wanted to see what sort of technology social networking websites would produce, which might be useful for their own intelligence gathering operations.

    --
    Palm trees and 8
  11. Re:I wonder if their animosity runs deep enough... by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 2

    What makes you think any of this is about animosity? They are greedy, that's all -- they didn't get billions they only got millions and they weren't satisfied with that. The fact that they could live comfortable for the rest of their lives without having to do any work whatsoever is irrelevant to them.

    --
    Palm trees and 8
  12. Why not? by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd have done it, just for kicks. What other excitement exists in the life of a multi-millionaire, besides suing each other and being sued?

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:Why not? by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Banging gold-digging super models from what I've heard.

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
  13. Re:Good for them by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...maintaining their basis at-par (inflation adjusted) with a conservative portfolio.

    Or they could spend it all on hookers and blow in the first year, dieing penniless, unloved, and face down in their own vomit. Send your suggestions to winklevossmillions.org today.

  14. They make me angry by BlueCoder · · Score: 2

    They are in business school and they tried to recruit mark for his skills. They had no contract and what they actually wanted to create was more like a dating site rather than anything like what Facebook turned into.

    I get offers all the time to create web sites for people but I'm like you have to have it all thought out and then come to me. Storyboard everything. If you can't do that we are wasting each others time. The idea person actually has to have an idea rather than me doing all the work creating the product. If I have to create the product and I'm doing it all myself anyway then I'm going to do it for myself. It takes more than a half cocked idea to actually make something like Facebook. The whole thing was sold on growth and being the next it thing and that's more than creating a few web pages.

  15. That is overhyped. by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 2

    It is not as good an experience as you think it may be.

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
  16. Facebook's demise?? Not likely. by Announcer · · Score: 2

    Has anyone else noticed the trend of LARGE corporations, like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, etc, not only having their own WEBsites, but ALSO "Like us on Facebook" in their own ads? Did we see this kind of trend with MySewer? No. It is almost as though Facebook is becoming a "second Internet" of sorts.

    Advertisers are flocking to Facebook because it has a very effective advertising model. (I know, I have used it!) It combines the best of all features. Everything from extremely focused, targeted adverts with broad-scale, wide-distribution, to small-area/local ads. Mom and Pop businesses can EASILY afford to advertise (very effectively, BTW!) on Facebook, and limit the distribution of their ads to within just a few miles of their location. That's why I seriously doubt that Facebook is going away any time soon.

    Unless, of course, they do something that utterly and completely ticks-off a majority of their userbase, so they leave en masse... but that would also depend upon whether a truly viable alternative existed.

    --
    Willie...