| Some responses (these all assume that this whole contract is not a forgery, and Mr. Zuckerberg entered into it knowingly) a) It seems to me that the work to be performed is adequately spelled out and vagueness is not an issue. (even by name 'The Facebook') I'd be inclined to agree with you if Mr Ceglia hired Mr. Zuckerberg to develop something totally unrelated and then claimed ownership over a product developed later, but there seems to be little question that the site started there @ Harvard morphed over time into the Facebook we know today. b) I don't see how this penalty is unenforceable. There is a good chance the whole venture was viewed to be worth 1000->2000 at the time of the contract. Not only was Zuckerberg content to sign this contract, he was sufficiently disinterested in maintaining 50% ownership at the time that he took an additional 34 days to finish the project. A contract isn't invalid just because, years later, it seems one of the parties agreed to a bad deal. At the time, the deal probably seemed quite fair. c) As far as I know, in America - unlike England - the clock on the statute of limitations starts upon discovery of the breach by Mr. Ceglia. It is very easy for him to claim that he didn't discover a breach until 2005 or 2006. As an additional point, I believe there is no way the claimant will be able to claw back equity from those who have received it without knowledge of Mr. Zuckerberg's breach. I can't be certain about NYC but in almost all states they are protected. (You seem to know what you are talking about so perhaps you could clarify this?) I don't understand what is weird about this claim. There is a word for a perpetual stake in a business: Equity. Majority equity holders choose how or when to dilute their stake. Ceglia gave Zuckerberg $1000 and he got equity in return. If I run a lemonade stand and you buy half for a grand and eventually I grow it into a lemonade empire, I don't get to divest you of your stake just because I agreed to a bad deal. I agree the suit is poorly put together, but I don't see anything at all weird about the claims. |