Facebook Lawyer `Unsure' Whether Founder Mark Zuckerberg Signed Contract

Bob Van Voris Bloomberg.com 07/20/2010 19:07

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook Inc..

A lawyer for Facebook Inc. said she was “unsure” whether company founder Mark Zuckerberg signed a contract that purportedly entitles a New York man to 84 percent of the world’s biggest social-networking service.

Paul Ceglia sued Facebook and Zuckerberg in state court June 30, claiming that an April 2003 contract entitles him to ownership of most of the closely held company. Ceglia’s lawyer produced a copy of the document for U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara today at a hearing in federal court in Buffalo, New York.

“Whether he signed this piece of paper, we’re unsure at this moment,” Facebook lawyer Lisa Simpson told Arcara.

Palo Alto, California-based Facebook, which hasn’t claimed the alleged contract with Ceglia is a phony, has “serious questions” about its authenticity, Simpson said.

(...) Today’s hearing was for Arcara to consider a request by Facebook to dissolve a temporary injunction, issued by a state court judge June 30, preventing the company from transferring assets. The parties resolved the issue by agreeing to let the injunction expire July 23. Arcara extended an order staying the injunction until then, which means it will have no effect.

The parties, appearing before Arcara for the first time in the case, also provided new details of their clients’ stories in response to questions from the judge.

“Mr. Zuckerberg did have a contract with Mr. Ceglia,” Simpson said. Zuckerberg, 26, worked for Ceglia as a computer coder, she said.

Facebook claims Ceglia remained silent for more than six years and his claim is probably too old to pursue. Also, Ceglia claims his alleged contract, which refers to “The Face Book,” was signed about nine months before Facebook was founded, the company said in court papers.