Man Sues Facebook for 84% of Ownership

84% of Facebook could soon fall into the hands of a web designer called Paul Ceglia. It is vastly unlikely that Facebook will fall into the hands of this web designer, but to prevent it Facebook will have to disprove Ceglia’s claims in court.

According to the lawsuit (below), filed in the Supreme Court in New York last month, Paul Ceglia signed a contract with Facebook in April 2003 to design and develop thefacebook.com, which was Facebooks original name.

Ceglia claims that, according to the contract, he was to be given a $1,000 fee and a 50% stake in Facebook for services rendered, with a further 1% stake for each day until the site was finished, which was on February 4, 2004. Add it all up, and Ceglia claims he should be the owner of 84% of Facebook.

Although it is unlikely that Ceglia will win the lawsuit it already caused some problems for Facebook. The court has issued a temporary restraining order, that prevents founder Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook from transferring any assets. Facebook has also asked for the case to be transferred to a federal court, and is trying to have the case annulled.