By Margaret Hawrywk

University students, along with thousands of college students across the nation, may have to look for another way to procrastinate as Thefacebook faces a lawsuit from its rival site, ConnectU.

The suit, which was filed in August 2004, claims Mark Zuckerberg, founder and creator of Thefacebook (www.Thefacebook.com), stole the idea for his Web site from ConnectU (www.ConnectU.com) and stalled progress of the site, said Chris Hughes, a junior at Harvard University and spokesperson for the Thefacebook. In the lawsuit the creators of ConnectU-Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, all Harvard graduates, want Thefacebook to be shutdown and are asking for an award of unspecified damages.

ConnectU is claiming Zuckerberg, who at the time was a student at Harvard, breached his contract with their site because he “Agreed to complete certain sections that still haven’t been completed,” Winklevoss said. Winklevoss further explained the creators of ConnectU understood Zuckerberg had other obligations, such as schoolwork, that would be a priority over the site, but “He never said he couldn’t do it . . . He knew that he had a deadline.”

The two parties exchanged over 50 e-mails and several phone calls regarding Zuckerberg’s progress on the site during the four-month relationship. In January 2004, Zuckerberg told ConnectU he had personal projects that needed to be accomplished, never mentioning Thefacebook, Winklevoss said.

Zuckerberg was hired by the creators of ConnectU as a programmer in 2003 and the agreement, Hughes said, was informal. A contract was never drawn up and Zuckerberg was never paid for his work.

Winklevoss claimed the agreement with Zuckerberg was, in fact, formal in that an oral contract “still suffices in a court of law” and is legally binding. In the agreement, Zuckerberg would “reap any benefits and become part of the team,” Winklevoss said. In the least, “He would have received credit to add to his résumé.”

Thefacebook was created by Zuckerberg, along with four other Harvard students, Chris Hughes, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Andrew McCollum, in February 2004. The site allows college students, 1,341,899 of whom are currently registered users, to connect and interact by creating personal pages that can include a picture, class schedule and lists of various interests.

Thefacebook has quickly become an addiction for many Hofstra students.

“I use Thefacebook for various things, catching up with old friends I haven’t seen, finding out assignments from other students that I am not friends with and even the curious browsing to see who lives near me,” Matthew Latham, a sophomore communications major, said.

The ConnectU site is similar, but also includes blogs, instant messaging, group discussion boards and an online book exchange. The site has “many thousands” of members and with its various features, “It’s only a matter of time before the site becomes as popular as Thefacebook,” Winklevoss said.

“We’re in the first quarter,” Winklevoss said, comparing the rivalry between ConnectU and Thefacebook to a sports game, “there’s still time to win.”

Zuckerberg has been openly accused on the ConnectU Web site by its three creators of stealing “ideas to create a competing site, without informing us [the creators of ConnectU] of his intentions.”

The creators of Thefacebook defend themselves and the site.

“Zuckerberg did about six hours of work for a site that was much different than the current ConnectU,” Hughes said. “The original site, Harvardconnection, was originally focused on dating exclusively for Harvard students, while the Thefacebook has always been very different in that it has been an online database with social networking.”

Winklevoss said Harvardconnection was an original idea for their site where each school would have their own domain name. The idea was dropped because the creators figured it would be too costly to purchase a domain name for every school and they were concerned schools would not be pleased with the use of their names.

Winklevoss added the idea for their site did not revolve around dating.

“Sex drives these things . . . Thefacebook is used for dating,” students are using the site to find that “hot” person in their class. “It’s really all semantics,” Winklevoss said.

The founders of the Thefacebook are countersuing ConnectU “in order to regain whatever funds we lose,” which is estimated at $200,000, Hughes said. Thefacebook is claiming ConnectU is “abusing the legal system for their own ends” in its countersuit.

“They’ve been playing the tune of the victim,” Winklevoss said in response to the countersuit. “We know we’re right, we feel it from the core, from our bones.”

The lawsuit should be concluded within a few years and as of now, should not greatly affect the respective sites or their members.

“These cases take quite a long while to work out. Oftentimes they don’t even go to trial. About 90 percent don’t,” Hughes said. “The chances are very low for it getting that far.”

“The suit will interfere with how much time we spend trying to improve the site because it’s a constant headache. It also hurts us financially when we’re at a time where we’re just breaking even as a new company,” Hughes said.

The founders of ConnectU are confident the suit will not hinder the progress of their site.

“We’ve been good at separating the two,” Winklevoss said.