Facebook demanded a federal judge Monday dismiss an “ outrageous ” suit brought by Paul Ceglia , an entrepreneur with a shady past who is lay claim half ownership of the social - networking service .
grounds allegedly showing Ceglia “ baked ” a hammer contract that claimed he owned half of Facebook .
The filing comes as Facebook endeavor to terminate the ownership tizzy in advance of a looming , but as yet unscheduled , initial public offeringvalued at an estimated $ 5 billion .
The Palo Alto - based company say forensic evidence , include an examination of Ceglia ’s hard crusade , proves that Ceglia had forged e - mails and a 2003 contract between himself and Facebook founding father Mark Zuckerberg – a declaration that is at the center of Ceglia ’s nearly 2 - yr - old New York federal Margaret Court lawsuit .
“ Ceglia ’s suit was nothing more than an set about shakedown , ” Facebook attorney Orin Snyder wrote U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara . Snyder said the suit amounted to “ extortionate requirement ” from Ceglia .
Zuckerberg has maintained all along that Ceglia ’s declaration was a fake . Judge Acara hadauthorized the forensic testinglast twelvemonth . The result – include allegations that Ceglia employ a jinx editor to keep in line the text edition of the disputed declaration in edict to make the datestamps look precise – was submitted to him Monday . The document also say Ceglia employ a method call in “ bake ” by which he allegedly exposed a fashion contract to visible radiation , which produced tan furrow “ where Ceglia appears to have used clothes pin or binder clip to freeze the document and divulge it to sunlight . ”
Among other things , Facebook said it had discovered the original “ Work for Hire ” contract on Ceglia ’s data processor and one e - mailed in 2004 to a Ceglia attorney , neither of which mention Facebook .
Zuckerberg has said all along that the contract involve another project for which Ceglia charter Zuckerberg to go on his StreetFax company nearly a tenner ago . Ceglia alleges the contract bridge also include front Zuckerberg $ 2,000 in exchange for one-half of Facebook when Zuckerberg was a unseasoned Harvard University computer science student .
“ The breakthrough of the StreetFax contract impart no doubtfulness about the nature and extent of Ceglia ’s crime . He had create the counterfeit Work for Hire document by doctoring the textual matter of pageboy 1 of the StreetFax Contract , adding in planning supposedly giving him ownership of Facebook , ” Snyderwrote . ( .pdf )
Snyder added : “ There is no need for further analysis . The breakthrough of the StreetFax contract proves that the Work for Hire document is a forgery and compels immediate dismissal of this fraudulent cause . ”
Cegliahas already beenhit with a $ 5,000 mulct and a $ 75,000 greenback for Facebook ’s legal feesfor bomb to turn over his passwords to his online e - mail accounts when ordered to do so by the court .
But Ceglia attorney Dean Boland said the subject is far from over .
“ They are claiming that there are other digital images of the contract . All I have to say about the is : persist tuned , ” Boland say said in a phone interview .
“ We have n’t live after their documents and Zuckerberg ’s reckoner to forensically analyze , ” Boland said in a telephone interview . “ By the time we are done , this case is going to look 180 degree different from what has been out there thus far . ”
Facebook claims discovering the “ authentic StreetFax contract ” was not the only “ smoking - gunslinger ” found on Ceglia ’s figurer .
Snyder wrote that forensic examiners key out seven version of the Work for Hire written document , allot to the records file Monday .
The metadata for these documents reveal Ceglia ’s attempts at backdating and written document handling , as he repeatedly make different versions of the text file and attempted to backdate them by adjusting the system of rules clock on his computer . Ceglia also made extended role of a hex editor – a program commonly used by electronic forgers that allows a exploiter to edit the raw data point that make up a data file in a manner that gain the fallacious change to the papers more hard to detect – in examine the agency he could attempt to alter and manipulate Word documents without leaving a digital fingerprint .
What ’s more , Facebook also claims that Ceglia create fake e - mail between him and Zuckerberg by employing a method of reset his computer ’s organization clock to dates in 2003 and 2004 . But the date , according to the documents , were all stuck in Eastern Daylight Time . None were set to Eastern Standard Time which is what the time should have been for the e - mails from October to April .
No royal court particular date has been set for the motion to dismiss .
Wired.com has been expanding the hive mind with technology , scientific discipline and geek culture news since 1995 .
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