That's not what the most recent development is about.
They had a settlement a while ago the terms of which had been undisclosed. But the ConnectU guys apparently decided that they wanted more, so they tried to reopen the case (which is in general not a done thing after you've settled.) But the judge said they could not, i.e., that they had to take what had been agreed on previously. I'm not sure whether this is final, maybe they can appeal, or take it to yet another state or something.
well he did borrow some code/features so I guess they did have some claim. But yeah its a good day for those guys because they get paid w/o really doing the hard work.
I'm actually surprised they (ConnectU) won this case (or Zuck buckled), from the sounds of things a new social network idea was "in the air" at the time and several teams were close to launching something similar.
Who's to say ConnectU had an exclusive "right" to this idea? They simply hired a freelance coder aka consultant to hack away and surprise he though it was a good idea and made his own (apparently more popular) version.
What's important to note though is the general flow of money from non-rowers to rowers.
In all seriousness though USRowing announced this morning that they made the pair for Beijing, so not a bad week for them. I look forward to watching their race on TV later this summer.
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