You might not actually hear about the Winklevoss twins in the news ever again (someone’s not playing a joke on me, right?). The larger-than-life twins may have finally decided to bury the hatchet with Facebook.
Both Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have decided to not appeal to the Supreme Court over a lower ruling that upholds a $65 million settlement with Facebook given to the Winklevosses.
(MORE: Winklevosses Denied by Ninth Circuit, Head for Supreme Court)
The Winklevoss-Facebook drama, which has been gratuitously displayed on the film The Social Network, contends that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stole the twins’ idea for a social-networking site back when they were all undergrads at Harvard. The project was originally called ConnectU.
The Winklevoss twins took their case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which helped reach a settlement between the twins and Facebook. However, the Winklevosses were unhappy with the settlement, because they later claimed it was based on an inaccurate valuation of the company. Facebook is currently estimated to be worth more than $100 billion.
(MORE: Harvard Twins Lose Appeal to Quash Facebook Settlement)
They’ve pursued the Court to change its ruling, until the Court finally declared the following:
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. And the courts might have obliged, had the Winklevosses not settled their dispute and signed a release of all claims against Facebook. With the help of a team of lawyers and a financial advisor, they made a deal that appears quite favorable in light of recent market activity. For whatever reason, they now want to back out. Like the district court, we see no basis for allowing them to do so.
At some point, litigation must come to an end. That point has now been reached.
Fin.
(via CNET)