Classmates Allege Facebook Founder Stole Their Idea

The founder of the Web site Facebook.com will be in court this week defending an allegation that he stole the idea from three former fellow Harvard students.

Mark Zuckerberg, 23, has been hailed as "the next Steve Jobs" — the innovative creator of Apple — and his social networking site as the next Google.

But according to his three accusers, who went on to launch a similar but significantly less successful site, Mr. Zuckerberg allegedly cut them out of their own idea after they recruited him to work on it.

In a lawsuit originally filed three years ago, the trio claims that Mr. Zuckerberg stole the idea, source code, and the business plan for Facebook in 2003 while working as a programmer for them.

The suit alleges copyright infringement, stealing trade secrets, fraud, and breach of contract.

The trio — Cameron Winklevoss, his twin brother, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra — says they were developing their own social networking site, ConnectU, and asked Mr. Zuckerberg to help after hearing about his Internet prowess. They now allege that he deliberately stalled its progress so he could set up Facebook six months ahead — a crucial time advantage, they say, in the breakneck speed of the Internet revolution.

Mr. Zuckerberg denies any wrongdoing and wants the case dismissed.

In Boston on Wednesday, the claimants will be asking a federal judge to give them control of Facebook and its assets, as well as grant them damages.

Billions of dollars are at stake. Mr. Zuckerberg has already turned down a $1 billion offer for the site and says he wants his operation to remain private. But some claim he is simply holding out for $2 billion. A sale would be very difficult if a lawsuit was hanging over the firm.

Although not yet as big as MySpace, Facebook is growing at the rate of 150,000 new members every day and is regarded by many to be a more sophisticated socializing system.