The judge's decision could be chalked up as a loss for Facebook, which sought to have the case dismissed. ConnectU, which has less than 100,000 members, compared to Facebook's
30 million-plus, brought allegations ranging from breach of confidence to misappropriation of trade secrets. Now, the case won't likely see more action until the fall.
Still, the judge said even ConnectU's strongest claims were on rickety ground. "It's gossamer thin on the question of contract," Judge Douglas P. Woodlock said. Zuckerberg, a one-time employee of ConnectU, never signed a formal contract with the plaintiffs, whose so-called "paper trail" is limited to emails and telephone voice-mail messages. Meanwhile, the majority of these claims date back to the days before either ConnectU or Facebook became a formal company, when both parties were students at Harvard.