the buzz log

Let's face it: What you do in college should stay in college. The late nights, the parties, the contracts signed. Wait, what? If you're Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Facebook, this is the kind of thing from your undergrad years that comes back to haunt you.

While he was a student at Harvard, Zuckerberg may have signed over 84% of his social-networking company to, well, basically, some guy.

Turns out the Harvard student picked up a coding project for Paul Ceglia, a web developer, in his freshman year. The fledgling Facebook mogul charged $1,000 for the work. Then, according to Ceglia's attorney, the budding businessman mentioned he had a side project of his own: An online yearbook for Harvard students that he wanted to expand. He called it "The Face Book."

Ceglia gave the entrepreneur an additional $1,000 to continue his website work, in exchange for a 50% share of the company, plus 1% extra "for each day the project went past its Jan. 1, 2004, due date." Zuckerberg can't say whether he signed the document his ex-employer claims is evidence of what he's owed. But there is one thing everyone can agree on: The stakes are monumental. Facebook now boasts 500 million users and is said to be worth $24.6 billion. That's billion. With a B.

Facebook's lawyer, Lisa Simpson (seriously), argued in U.S. District Court that the contract, if really signed by her employer, was written before Facebook even existed. The case will continue on August 6. Facebook will argue to have the case dismissed.

One question the judge will surely ask: If Ceglia has a valid contract, why wait six years before making the case? Zuckerberg's Harvard classmates sure didn't: The Facebook chief settled a lawsuit back in 2008 with three people who claimed he stole their idea.

Ceglia has his own legal troubles to contend with: He has been accused of defrauding $200,000 from customers of a wood-pellet fuel company in New York. That case is pending.