It's probably true Zuckerberg broke some contracts and maybe stole some IP, but the Winklevi seem to think that if Mark Zuckerberg never existed they would have been able to build Facebook into the company it currently is therefore they're entitled to X% of Facebook's current value, which is completely ridiculous.

So far the only thing proved is they had an idea similar to Facebook (as did probably dozens or hundreds of other people at the time) and they're [kind of] good at filing lawsuits. If they want to be known for anything except "those guys who almost-but-not-really created Facebook" they should move on and build their own great company with their $100M+ from the settlement.

But they won't, because they know they can't.

You're probably right about that but the fact remains: Zuckerberg did them wrong, we don't know what would have happenend and someone in a similar position made billions with their idea and strategy. How they hypthetically would have executed if they had hired someone trusthworthy should hardly matter in a court.

I'm not sure it does look that way. As Sorkin writes "MARK: The 'Winklevii' aren't suing me for intellectual property theft. They're suing me because for the first time in their lives, things didn't go exactly the way they were supposed to for them."

They were incredibly lucky to get the settlement they did and for them to consider risking that, or at minimum legal fees, seems very foolish.

Also Sorkin:

MARK: Did I use any of your code? DIVYA: You stole our whole goddam idea! […] MARK: Match-dot-com for Harvard guys? […] MARK: You know you really don’t need a forensic team to get to the bottom of this. If you guys were the inventors of Facebook you’d have invented Facebook.

Why are you quoting invented dialogue?

> Why are you quoting invented dialogue?

Because art both affects our beliefs and provides a nice form for expressing them.

Today's trivial "Follow the money" does not appear in the book "All the President's Men" and the relevant reporters never said or wrote it. It comes from the movie, written by William Goldman. And now "every" story about investigative journalism cites it.