unethical behavior
(Rouse, 2010)
RES/351
February 15, 2014
Unethical Behavior
In the year 2004 young billionaire Mark Zuckerberg was tried for accusations or unethical behavior regarding the creation of the popular social media site Facebook. While attending Harvard University students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra were developing a social media site Harvard Connection now known as ConnectU. In 2003, ConnectU hired Zuckerberg to write some code for their website, and a few weeks later Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com (Rouse, 2010)The Winklevosses claim that Zuckerberg copied their idea and used the codes to create his own site. In 2008 the Winklevoss twins took Zuckerberg to court in an attempt to sue him for intentionally postponing work on their site to develop his own. The initial trial against Zuckerberg ended with a payout to the twins for more than $65 million in cash and stocks. (Rouse, 2010) Since this settlement the twins and Zuckerberg have re-entered the litigation process due to claims that Zuckerberg inaccurately reported valuation of Facebook during the first lawsuit.
During all of this both parties have been injured depending on how one views it. The twins may have lost the opportunity to have the social media site success that Mark has had, and Mark has had the negative allegations and media on his name and site due to the settlement. On the other hand it is hard to imagine that either party is “injured”. Zuckerberg is now worth billions and the twins stock in Facebook has grown dramatically and they became instant millionaires with the settlement without having to work years on development.
This case and unethical behavior has affected Facebook and all parties involved in a profitable way. Due to Facebook’s popularity the story of the development and trial became the plot of a Hollywood success film in 2010 “The Social Network”. The movie gave the site publicity and unintentionally boosted its user numbers. The
RES/351
February 15, 2014
Unethical Behavior
In the year 2004 young billionaire Mark Zuckerberg was tried for accusations or unethical behavior regarding the creation of the popular social media site Facebook. While attending Harvard University students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra were developing a social media site Harvard Connection now known as ConnectU. In 2003, ConnectU hired Zuckerberg to write some code for their website, and a few weeks later Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com (Rouse, 2010)The Winklevosses claim that Zuckerberg copied their idea and used the codes to create his own site. In 2008 the Winklevoss twins took Zuckerberg to court in an attempt to sue him for intentionally postponing work on their site to develop his own. The initial trial against Zuckerberg ended with a payout to the twins for more than $65 million in cash and stocks. (Rouse, 2010) Since this settlement the twins and Zuckerberg have re-entered the litigation process due to claims that Zuckerberg inaccurately reported valuation of Facebook during the first lawsuit.
During all of this both parties have been injured depending on how one views it. The twins may have lost the opportunity to have the social media site success that Mark has had, and Mark has had the negative allegations and media on his name and site due to the settlement. On the other hand it is hard to imagine that either party is “injured”. Zuckerberg is now worth billions and the twins stock in Facebook has grown dramatically and they became instant millionaires with the settlement without having to work years on development.
This case and unethical behavior has affected Facebook and all parties involved in a profitable way. Due to Facebook’s popularity the story of the development and trial became the plot of a Hollywood success film in 2010 “The Social Network”. The movie gave the site publicity and unintentionally boosted its user numbers. The