Social networking site Facebook has come to a settlement with the founders of ConnectU after a legal battle that has run for years, the New York Times reports. According to the publication, Facebook was engaged in discussions with ConnectU - an online meeting place for students and graduates of colleges and universities around the world - over the weekend.
The founders of ConnectU, all Harvard graduates, accused Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the original team behind the site of adopting aspects of their idea.
They stated that they hired Mr Zuckerberg while he was at Harvard to help create a campus-wide dating portal entitled Harvard Connection.
The ConnectU founders went on to allege that he stopped working on the project for a number of months while making progress on his own site, subsequently going on to launch Facebook.
Meanwhile, Facebook had accused the ConnectU team, which includes brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and their colleague, Divya Narendra, of unfair business practices.
Although the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, all motions in the case against ConnectU have now been terminated.
According to the New York Times, the case was embarrassing for Facebook and cast doubt on the ingenuity of its founder.
A Facebook spokeswoman refused to make comment on the legal matters but did reveal that motions to dismiss the case were expected to be filed "within weeks".
