Archive · 31 Dec 2025
Indian-Origin Student Sues Zuckerberg Over Facebook Idea
A long time ago, when the internet was new, a group of Harvard students, including Divya Narendra, had an idea for a social network called HarvardConnection.
They asked another student, Mark Zuckerberg, to help build it.
But instead, Zuckerberg created his own social network called Facebook, which looked very similar.
Narendra and his friends thought Zuckerberg had stolen their idea, so they took him to court.
After a long legal battle, they settled for a lot of money.
Narendra later started his own successful company called SumZero.
This story was even made into a famous movie called 'The Social Network'.
Divya Narendra and the Winklevoss twins accused Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their HarvardConnection idea for Facebook.
The legal battle lasted from 2004 to 2008 and was settled for $65 million.
Narendra and the Winklevoss twins believed Zuckerberg breached an oral agreement and misappropriated their concept.
The dispute was dramatized in the Oscar-winning film 'The Social Network'.
After the lawsuit, Narendra founded SumZero, a professional network for investors and analysts.
- Who
- Divya Narendra, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Mark Zuckerberg
- What
- Legal dispute over the theft of the HarvardConnection idea, leading to the creation of Facebook
- When
- 2004-2008 (lawsuit), 2004 (Facebook launch)
- Where
- Harvard University, later expanded globally
- Why
- Narendra and the Winklevoss twins believed Zuckerberg stole their idea for a social network
- Divya Narendra
- Indian-origin Harvard student and co-founder of HarvardConnection
- HarvardConnection
- Original social network project by Narendra and the Winklevoss twins
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Co-founder of Facebook, accused of stealing the idea for HarvardConnection
- TheFacebook
- Original name of Facebook, launched by Zuckerberg in 2004
- Legal Battle
- 2004-2008 lawsuit over idea theft, settled for $65 million
- SumZero
- Investment-tech platform founded by Narendra in 2008
- The Social Network
- Oscar-winning film based on the Facebook lawsuit
