WINKLEVOSS TWINS LOSE AGAIN

It seems like the courts just don't seem to agree with any lawsuit the Winklevoss twins bring. Having already lost in court again and again in their attempts to claim ownership of Facebook, the Winklevoss twins have now lost in their attempt to get out of having to pay their original lawyers $13 million.

In case you haven't followed the story (and didn't see The Social Network), the Winklevii came to a settlement agreement with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, which has made them fantastically more wealthy than they already were. But they got greedy, and after the settlement was signed, tried to back out of it, claiming that they were misled in the negotiations. The courts have rejected that argument, and so they also sued their lawyers, insisting that it was all their fault. In a ruling the court has tossed this latest case as well. Maybe the Winklevii should give up on the courts and get back to rowing.

WINKLEVOSS TWINS RESPOND TO LARRY SUMMERS VIA HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT DREW FAUST

The Winklevosses are taking their grievances over a public tongue lashing from Larry Summers to Harvard University President Drew Faust.

In a letter to Faust that lashes back at Summers, the Winklevosses and their partner, Divya Narendra, asked Faust to address Summers' use of derogatory language to characterize them. They contend that kind of remark about former students from a faculty member is an "unprecedented betrayal."

Summers was the president of Harvard University when Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook. The Winklevosses allege that Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from them. A scene of a meeting in Summers' office is in last year's film, "The Social Network."

Summers was being interviewed Wednesday by Walter Isaacson, chief executive of the Aspen Institute, at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference when, according to a video of the interview published online by Fortune magazine, Isaacson asked Summers, "So was that scene in 'The Social Network' true?"

Summers responded, getting a laugh out of those in attendance:

I've heard it said that I can be arrogant. If that's true, I surely was on that occasion.

One of the things you learn as a college president is that if an undergraduate is wearing a tie and jacket on Thursday afternoon at three o'clock, there are two possibilities.

One is that they're looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an [expletive]. This was the latter case.

Rarely, have I encountered such swagger, and I tried to respond in kind.

The Winklevosses say they sought out Summers for "advice and mentorship" in the dispute with Zuckerberg.

From their letter:

His [Summer's] manner was not inconsistent with his reputation and present day admissions of being tactfully challenged. It was not his failure to shake hands with the three of us upon entering his office (doing so would have required him to take his feet off his desk and stand up from his chair), nor his tenor that was most alarming, but rather his scorn for a genuine discourse on deeper ethical questions, Harvard's Honor Code, and its applicability or lack thereof.

We now further understand why our meeting was less than productive; someone who does not value ethics with respect to his own conduct, would likely have little interest in this subject as it related to the conduct of others. Perhaps there is a "variability of aptitude" for decency and professionalism among university faculty.

WINKLEVOSS TWINS GIVE UP APPEAL OF FACEBOOK RULING

Olympic rowing twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court a ruling upholding their $65 million settlement with Facebook Inc and its founder Mark Zuckerberg, signaling the possible end of the long-running dispute.

The 2008 accord was intended to resolve a feud over whether Zuckerberg stole the idea for what became the world's most popular social networking website from the Winklevosses, who like him had attended Harvard University. Their battle was dramatized in the 2010 film "The Social Network."

After agreeing to the cash-and-stock accord, the Winklevosses sought to undo it, saying it was fraudulent because Facebook hid information from them, and that they deserved more money.

The 6-foot 5-inch (1.96-meter) twins, who competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, had been planning to appeal an April 11 ruling by a federal appeals court in San Francisco upholding the settlement, which that court called "quite favorable."

But in a filing on Wednesday with that court, the Winklevosses said that after "careful consideration," they decided not to seek Supreme Court review. The filing did not give a reason for the decision.

COURT REJECTS WINKLEVOSS TWINS LAWSUIT AGAINST FACEBOOK

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss must accept their $65 million settlement from Facebook and move on.
A U.S. appeals court ruled Monday that the settlement still stands, despite the Winklevosses' claim that Facebook did not disclose an accurate valuation.

The suit stems from the Winklevosses' claim that Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea for the social-networking site. Zuckerberg and Facebook deny the allegations, but agreed to settle in 2008. Since then, the Winklevoss twins have attempted to secure a higher settlement by claiming that Facebook is guilty of securities fraud.

"The Winklevosses are not the first parties bested by a competitor who then seek to gain through litigation what they were unable to achieve in the marketplace," Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote in today's ruling. "And the courts might have obliged, had the Winklevosses not settled their dispute and signed a release of all claims against Facebook."

With both the district court and appeals court in agreement, it seems this may be the end of the Winklevosses' claim to any additional shares of Facebook. "For whatever reason, they (the Winklevosses) now want to back out. Like the district court, we see no basis for allowing them to do so," Kozinski wrote. "At some point, litigation must come to an end. That point has now been reached."