Winklevoss Twins Lose Facebook Appeal

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss lost their appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to have their original settlement with Facebook undone and overturned.

Back in 2008, the Winklevoss twins, Harvard University schoolmates of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, signed a settlement agreement with Facebook for $20 million cash a partial ownership of the world’s largest social networking destination. The twins told a trio of appellate judges that they were mislead about the value of Facebook’s stock at the time, claiming Zuckerberg told them it was valued at $35.90 per share. Later, the company valued the stock at $8.88 per share for tax purposes. The Winklevoss’s said had they known that stock was that low they would have sought more stock in the settlement.

The brothers have always insisted that Zuckerberg stole their idea and launched it as Facebook. The blood has been so bad between the three that it was covered in last year’s Oscar nominated film, The Social Network.

In a unanimous decision, the three judges said that the twins were “sophisticated parties” and “savvy enough to understand what they were agreeing to when they signed the agreement in 2008″. They noted that during settlement mediation, the Winklevoss brothers were represented by a half-dozen lawyers.

The settlement, which has been in litigation for six years, is now worth $160 million. Lawyers for the brothers, who’ve now lost the same case in two separate courts, will review the ruling before making a decision. The twins could ask the US Supreme Court to hear their case. There’s no guarantee they would.

This guest post is by Edwin who blogs at USdish. You can also follow him on Twitter.