Facebook and StudiVZ Settle Lawsuit

Facebook and StudiVZ, its German “counterpart,” have reached an agreement in the intellectual-property lawsuit filed by the American social network last year. StudiVZ will pay an undisclosed sum to Facebook and both companies will cease any further legal action in any of the two countries. The two social networks will operate normally in Germany, but have agreed not to disclose any further details about the settlement.

The legal fight started last summer when the Palo Alto company filed a lawsuit in its native California against the German social network claiming it was running a “knock-off” of its site, which duplicated its “look, feel, features and services.” While the claim wasn't exactly without merit, there was more to the lawsuit than met the eye in the first place. It turned out that Facebook might have actually tried to acquire its German twin, but failed to meet Holtzbrinck's, the company that owns StudiVz, financial requirements.

Holtzbrinck bought the German social network in 2007 for 85 million Euros, or around $134 million, but reportedly wanted several times that amount from Facebook. StudiVZ is the biggest social network in Germany, with around 13 million users in the country where Facebook is doing less spectacular than in the rest of the world, with only two million users as of June 2009.

A second lawsuit was filed in Germany as well, but the suit has since been resolved, with the Judge finding for StudiVZ saying that Facebook presented little actual evidence that the German social network used any of its code and that it couldn't be considered infringement, since it made no attempts to actually trick users into believing they were visiting Facebook. At the time, Facebook announced that it would appeal the decision. But, with the new settlement agreement, both suits are considered closed.