Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are heading west.

The Winklevoss twins, the 31-year-old Harvard grads who are probably best known for their years-long legal fight with Mark Zuckerberg over the founding of Facebook, have put $18 million of their Facebook settlement cash toward buying a brand new bachelor pad in the Hollywood Hills, according to a report today out of TMZ.*

The reason for the move out west? It’s not because the statuesque pair wants to give Armie Hammer a run for his money on the silver screen. TMZ reports:

“The Winklevii have their eye on SoCal as the new Silicon Valley (which is home to Facebook and Apple) thanks to L.A.’s booming tech scene.”

The new mansion will reportedly be inhabited mostly by Tyler, who will use it as his home base while launching West Coast operations of the brothers’ new NYC-based venture capital firm, Winklevoss Capital.

I love to rib the Winklevoss twins as much as anyone, focusing more on California does seem like a smart move to show that they are serious about tech investing. The San Francisco Bay Area is still the epicenter when it comes to tech, and Los Angeles has indeed been heating up as a startup hub in recent years. We’ll have to see how often the Winklevosses jaunt up north to Silicon Valley — that could result in some interesting run-ins to say the least.

If you’re in the mood for gawking and feeling vaguely jealous, you can leaf through the photos of the Winklevii’s new house on this slideshow.

* Yes, the showbiz gossip site that some prickly readers like to compare to TechCrunch, which I think is meant to be an insult but could be a compliment? Hey, no one can say TMZ doesn’t get the best scoops in its field. I’m rubber, you’re glue, etc.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

When Yahoo chief executive Scott Thompson got on his first investor conference call after taking over in January, he bragged to media and investors about the great wealth of talent and IP that existed at the struggling company. He said that it needed to “build great innovative products and put them inside customer experiences.” The news that it is suing Facebook over alleged infringement of ten “method” patents by the social network, however, points to a different strategy to move ahead.

The action has ignited some strong opinions from the gallery: Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures pulls no punches and calls the suit a “crock of shit” because it “crossed the unspoken line which is that web companies don’t sue each other over their bogus patent portfolios. I don’t think there’s a unique idea out there in the web space and hasn’t been for well over a decade.”

But this is not the first time that Yahoo has leaned on a big company with its patents just before the target has gone public — Facebook is planning an IPO that could value the company at $100 billion — nor is it the first time that Facebook has found itself in court.

Last year alone, the social network was involved in 22 separate patent suits, according to Reuters division Westlaw, double the number from 2010. These cover areas like message transmission to large numbers of users.

Up to now, Facebook, which has only around 40 patents granted to its name (compared to Yahoo’s 3,300), has only been the plaintiff in one suit.* That small number, and Yahoo’s large size, may mean a lot more cases like this one up ahead, making social media and web services the next terrain for patent litigators.

Facebook has been in courts over other issues as well, beyond patents. That’s the price of success these days.

Just last week, Facebook lost a ruling in Germany over how it handles user information and applies its “Friend Finder” feature: both were found to violate privacy laws. That case, brought by Germany’s Central Consumer Association, an umbrella group for consumer rights organizations, was originally filed in 2010. It will be finalized in the next week or two and then Facebook will have one month to modify its services to comply with the findings. In a separate case around privacy in Germany, Facebook is being sued by the Hamburg data protection authority over its facial recognition feature.

Germany was also the focus of a copy-cat case for Facebook: The German social network StudiVZ won a case lodged by Facebook over alleged IP theft and source code theft. That was back in 2009, and to be honest the sites have evolved away from each other quite a lot since then.

Further back than this, there are also the cases involving Paul Ceglia and the Winklevoss twins.

As for Yahoo, it is not known for bringing lots of cases against its competitors or for having to defend itself against other’s allegations, but it’s not exactly a stranger to enforcing its patent rights.

According to Reuters, in 2004, Yahoo took patent claims to Google before it went public, and in exchange got shares in Google worth some $201 million at the time. It could be that this is what is behind Yahoo’s intention this time around, too.

*As Lenny Kravets points out in comments, the number of patents granted to Facebook is currently 42, with the other 120 being patent applications. Our original article had said that Facebook had around 160 patents.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

The Winklevoss twins had their original case against Facebook dismissed yesterday, causing tech media to write another slew of “The Winklevosses’ Case Against Facebook Is Over But Wait Actually It Isn’t” headlines. The seven-year battle is indeed not over, as the Winklevosses intent to file a motion under Rule 60b, which alleges that the Facebook withheld evidence during the first trial that could have been used in the settlement, evidence which would increase the value of the Winklevoss Facebook shares to around $200 million (which is about $200 million more than I or probably any of you have).

This news comes shortly after former Harvard president Larry Summers called the twins “assholes” at the Fortune Brainstorm tech conference in Aspen, in response to a question about the veracity of a scene in “The Social Network.”

“One of the things you learn as a college president is that if an undergraduate is wearing a tie and jacket on Thursday afternoon at three o’clock, there are two possibilities. One is that they’re looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an asshole. This was the latter case,”

The twins responded to Summers’ comments by writing an official-looking letter to the current president of Harvard, condemning Summers’ actions, which only reinforced the “asshole” characterization for many.

Because wading through piles of legalese isn’t something that I (or you) can spend most of my time doing, for better or for worse, I don’t understand the ins and outs of the case. But, thanks to “The Social Network” and the simplification engine that is popular culture,

Facebook Spent 320K on Lobbying in 2Q – TechCrunch reported this week that Facebook spent $320,000 on lobbying in the second quarter; the company has already surpassed its 2010 total lobbying spend in the first two quarters of this year.

Judge Dismisses Second Winklevoss Lawsuit –  Reuters today reported that Facebook was awarded a dismissal of a second lawsuit filed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The suit, filed in Boston, had sought to bring the twins more money on top of the $65 million settlement they had already received as the outcome of a suit claiming they came up with the idea for Facebook.

Facebook Testing a Phonebook App – VentureBeat reported that Facebook may be testing a phonebook app for mobile users, allowing them to see their contacts on Facebook as a phonebook and then dial them directly from the Facebook app on their phones. However, this could have been developed by Google to deepen the integration of Facebook with its mobile OS.

“Who Owns Facebook?” Website - Venture capital directory publisher Massinvestor has launched a website called “Who Owns Facebook?” that features profiles of all of Facebook’s biggest stock holders.

Fraction of Facebook for iPhone Users Complaint About Bugs – The Financial Times reported this week that there is a “revolt” amongst Facebook for iPhone users regarding bugs in the latest version of the app. In fact, the 20,000 users complaining make up just a tiny fraction of the app’s 84 million monthly users, and therefore does not represent widespread discontent.

Which Facebook Employees are on Google+? – AllFacebook reported this week that a slew of Facebook employees are on Google+, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and several members of the executive team. Here’s a list of some of them.

Harvard President Slams Winklevoss Bros – Larry Summers, who was president of Harvard University when the Winklevoss twins had their spat with Mark Zuckerberg over the founding of Facebook, seems to have been no fan of the brothers. He basically called them a vulgar name, hinting that they are jerks.

Talenthouse to Develop Fan Skill Competition Apps - Talenthouse is a platform for running promotions on Facebook where fans can compete to donate their skills, such as blogging or video editing, to help complete projects for their favorite celebrities. AllThingsD reports that the company has signed a deal to provide apps for Universal Music Group artists.

Facebook Report: Engaging Readers on Pages – Facebook released an analysis of user engagement with posts by the Pages of news organizations Pages, noting the influence of thumbnail images, post length, photos, questions and more. This study fell in line with one we reported earlier of journalist Pages.

Other Announcements:

Buddy Media Expands to Europe – Buddy Media announced this week that it would open a European headquarters in London.

myYearbook, Quepasa Merge – myYearbook and the Quepasa Corporation agreed to merge this week, bringing the social game developer and Latino social network together. The $100 million deal reaches across Latin America, includes 70 million registered users, 2.2 million mobile app installs and 11.5 million mobile game installs.

French MXP4 Opens US Office, Signs Deal – French developer of music-based social games MXP4 will move business operations of its Bopler Games unit to a new office in Los Angeles, closer to US record labels. The week prior, MXP4 signed a deal with EMI to bring the music of the record label’s artists into Bopler Games.

Wispor Launches Using Faceboom Comments Plugin – Wispor is a newly launched discussion-based social network where users can start conversations about any topic. The site is built on top of the Facebook Comments Box social plugin in what appears to be the deepest integration of the commenting widget to date.

Third-Party Facebook Photos App Pixable Adds Video – Pixable, a Facebook app we’ve previously covered that helps users sort through all the photos their friends upload, now allows users to browse videos uploaded or shared by their Facebook friends.

RootMusic BandPage Launches Social Touring Feature – BandPage, a Facebook app that allows bands to set up a profile and stream their music, has launched an integration with concert date tracking services Songkick, Bandsintown, and SonicLiving. The Social Touring feature allows musicians to automatically have their tour dates imported to their BandPage from these services.

Article courtesy of Inside Facebook

Facebook COO Sandberg Profiled – Facebook’s Chief Operating Office Sheryl Sandberg is profiled this week in Bloomberg Business week. The article describes how her steady leadership has helped Facebook monetize. It also mentions that she may be more conservative towards entering China than CEO Mark Zuckerberg. [Image via Facebook]

Facebook, Syria Butt Heads – Facebook shut down the Syrian military’s Page recently because it called for spamming of politically opposing Pages. Then it appeared the Syrian government tried to launch cyber, man-in-the-middle, attacks on Syrian Facebook users.

7.5M Facebook Users Under 13 – Facebook’s minimum 13 year age limit is being flaunted by 7.5 million users, according to a survey from Consumer Reports.

Facebook Reiterates How Developers Can Keep Users Safe - Following claims of new security risk, a post to the Facebook Developers Blog explained how developers can assist its efforts to protect users by acquiring an SSL certificate (which will be mandatory starting October 1st), reviewing the updated authentication and OAuth 2.0 guide, and complying with its Platform policies. It also mentioned that the company is working with other web giants including Google, web browser vendors and the National Institute of Standards and Technology on several web security initiatives.

Facebook Patents Info Sharing – A Facebook patent was published recently, the “Controlling Access of User Information Using Social-Networking Information” patent covers the degrees of separation between people controlling whether different social networks can access information from other networks.

LinkedIn to Raise $274M – LinkedIn is set to offer 7.84 million shares to the public to raise an estimated $274.4 million. The shares are priced between $32 and $35 dollars and LinkedIn will take $146.6 million of the money raised.

Facebook Makes Minor Changes to Promotion Guidelines - As of May 11th, promotions, contests, and sweepstakes on Facebook may no longer use the Like button, comments, or other Facebook features as voting mechanisms, impacting some developers such as Offerpop. Also, promotions may only include Facebook’s names, trademarks, etc in disclosures, not in contest instructions.

Winklevoss Twins Get Sued – In a twist of fate, the Winklevoss twins who have been suing Mark Zuckerberg for several years, are being sued by a software developer in Boston. Wayne Change wants a piece of the twins’ $65 million Facebook settlement for work he did for the twins’ original Facebook rival, ConnectU.

Facebook’s User Info Suit Continues – A lawsuit in which Facebook was accused of sharing user information with third-party advertisers was partially dismissed. The plaintiffs still have a chance to sue Facebook.

Airbnb Takes to Facebook – Airbnb, a global home rental service, implemented Facebook Connect, now allowing users to connect with people in their personal network when renting places to stay.

Claritics Raises $1.5M – Claritics, a startup providing self-serve social analytics tools for brands and game developers, raised $1.5 million in series A funding this week, to be used to develop its analytics suite, as well as sales and operational staff, according to TechCrunch.

BitTorrent Releases Personal Social File Sharing Channels – BitTorrent, developers of the popular file transfer protocol for the same name, has released the beta of its Project Chrysalis. It allows users to create a personal file sharing channel to which friends from Facebook can be invited to download files that exceed Facebook’s file size limit, such as home movies that are over 1024 MB.

Article courtesy of Inside Facebook

@tylerwinklevoss
Tyler Winklevoss

[ #FightForJusticeWillGoOn
Statement from our appelate attorney Jerome Falk:

“The Ninth Circuit has affirmed the District Court’s../..

about 2 hours ago via Long-tweetsReplyRetweetFavorite

@tylerwinklevoss
Tyler Winklevoss

enforcement of the settlement over my clients’ objection on the ground that the settlement was obtained in violation of the federal../..

about 2 hours ago via Long-tweetsReplyRetweetFavorite

@tylerwinklevoss
Tyler Winklevoss

securities laws. I appreciate the Ninth Circuit’s thorough discussion of the issues. However, I respectfully disagree with the Ninth../..

about 2 hours ago via Long-tweetsReplyRetweetFavorite

Earlier today a panel of Federal Appeals judges ruled that the Winklevoss twins had to accept a 2008 ruling and make due with their meager $65 million settlement with Facebook, now worth over $100 million. But the case is not closed, as the Winklevosses will be filing for a rehearing with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals bench.

This morning Federal Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski told the Winklevosses, “At some point, litigation must come to an end. That point has no been reached.”

Apparently the Winkelvoss legal team did not get the memo, as they are asking for a Petition For Rehearing En Banc, or a rehearing with 11 as opposed to three judges. Only an En Banc hearing or the Supreme Court can overturn a ruling by a Federal panel. Kozinski himself be will present at the new hearing, if it takes place.

Jerome B. Falk, Jr., lawyer at Howard Rice in San Francisco and lead appellate counsel for Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra gave me the following in a statement:

“The Ninth Circuit has affirmed the District Court’s enforcement of the settlement over my clients’ objection on the ground that the settlement was obtained in violation of the federal securities laws. I appreciate the Ninth Circuit’s thorough discussion of the issues.

However, I respectfully disagree with the Ninth Circuit’s conclusions. In my judgment, the opinion raises extremely significant questions of federal law that merit review by the entire Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. For that reason, my colleagues and I will file a Petition For Rehearing En Banc within the next fifteen days.”

Neither Falk or his clients are currently granting interviews, but Tyler Winklevoss is apparently tweeting out the entire legal statement.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Mark Zuckerberg has finally joined the ranks of Richard Nixon, Bart Simpson, Barack Obama, and Thom Yorke, all folks who have been honored as some of the few celebrities to grace the cover of everyone’s favorite portzebie title, Mad Magazine.

The cover [Click to embiggen] will complement what will probably be a horribly unfunny piece on the inside of the magazine entitled “The 50 Worst Things About Facebook” and will grace newsstands in about a week.

What’s interesting, I think is that Mad chose Zuckerberg as a cover-boy at all. While always topical and up-to-date (I remember reading “articles” about Spiro Agnew back when I was a kid and having no idea who he was aside from the fact that his name was an anagram for something dirty), placing a someone who is essentially a business person on the cover is an interesting move, especially for a title that describes itself as “Greasy Kids Stuff.” Obviously Facebook is big with the kids, but how many would know the founder on sight?

I asked Mad’s editor John Ficarra to explain his actions.

TC: Why Mark? Why now?

Ficarra: It was a pure business decision. We got a cool $2 mil from the Winklevoss twins to “poke” him a new one.

TC: What is Mad doing in terms of social media? Do you have a MySpace page?

Ficarra: We don’t have a MySpace page, but we have a very heavy presence on Friendster. Plus, you can usually find us every night…late into the night…on Chatroulette. That’s us with the Zorro mask and the SuperSoaker.

TC: Where is your iPad app? What’s the hold up?

Ficarra: We have a GREAT MAD app! It’s for the Zune and it’s available exclusively at Circuit City. Check it out!

TC: It is my understanding that Mad writers aren’t particularly intelligent. Who spelled Zuckerberg’s name for you?

Ficarra: Any idiot can spell Mark. Duh!

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

If you haven’t seen “The Social Network” yet – it officially opens in theaters today – I really suggest you do. It’s simply a good movie, even if the narrative doesn’t quite match the real story of how Facebook came to be (hey, it’s a movie).

But if your life is so super busy that you won’t have time for it, fear not, because the crazy Taiwanese video production company Next Media Animation (Wired profile) has got you covered. They just released a new animated video, condensing “The Social Network” into a short clip (not actually under one minute, but it suits people with a short attention span).

It’s also extremely hilarious.

I particularly like the part where Mark Zuckerberg falls in love with Justin Timberlake, right after being ferociously whipped by the Winklevoss twins.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

By now everyone has seen the first official trailer for the Facebook movie. While there’s no question that there’s a lot of talent behind it, I’m actually quite surprised that it looks good. But that’s just my opinion. What does someone portrayed in the movie actually think of it? Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz has weighed in on Quora.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Moskovitz takes some exception to what was included in the movie versus what was left out. For example, he’s never even met the Winklevoss twins, who play heavily in the film’s plot. Instead, Moskovitz wishes the filmmakers would have included more of of the other people in each co-founders’ lives that supported them at the time. Yes, there’s a reason Moskovitz made Facebook and not movies.

He also calls it “cool to see a dramatization of history.” But his money quote is this:

A lot of exciting things happened in 2004, but mostly we just worked a lot and stressed out about things; the version in the trailer seems a lot more exciting, so I’m just going to choose to remember that we drank ourselves silly and had a lot of sex with coeds.

Moskovitz makes it seem as if he’s read both the book and the script of the film and takes exception to the attacks on CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Still, he thinks the trailer actually shows some of Zuckerberg’s more positive qualities.

“At the end of the day, they cannot help but portray him as the driven, forward-thinking genius that he is,” Moskovitz concludes. “And the Ad Board *does* owe him some recognition, dammit,” he jokes (a reference to the end of the trailer).

Article courtesy of TechCrunch