Tyler Winklevoss
Encyclopedia
Tyler Howard Winklevoss (born August 21, 1981) is an American rower and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Tyler Winklevoss. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard...

. Winklevoss co-founded HarvardConnection (later re-named ConnectU
ConnectU
ConnectU was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004 that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about...

) along with his brother Cameron and a Harvard classmate of theirs, Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra is an American businessman. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss....

.

Early life and education

Tyler Winklevoss was born in Southampton, New York
Southampton (town), New York
The Town of Southampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, U.S., partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town had a total population of 54,712...

, and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...

. His father, Howard E. Winklevoss
Howard Winklevoss
Howard E. Winklevoss is an actuary. He is an academician and entrepreneur who has a practice in benefits management.Winklevoss is a former professor of actuarial science at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a graduate of Grove City College. He has written more than 20 books,...

, was a professor of actuarial science
Actuarial science
Actuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in the insurance and finance industries. Actuaries are professionals who are qualified in this field through education and experience...

 at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...

, and is the author of Pension Mathematics With Numerical Illustrations, and founder of Winklevoss Consultants and Winklevoss Technologies. Tyler studied classical piano for 12 years, beginning at age 6. The twins taught themselves HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....

 at the age of 13, and started a web-page company, which developed websites for businesses.

Winklevoss attended Greenwich Country Day School
Greenwich Country Day School
The Greenwich Country Day School is a co-educational, independent day school in Greenwich, Connecticut, founded in 1926. As of 2005, it has some 840 students from nursery to the 9th grade level....

 and graduated from the Brunswick School. He studied Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 and Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 in high school. During his junior year, he and his brother Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Tyler Winklevoss. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard...

 founded the crew program. He matriculated at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 2000 and majored in Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

, earning a B.A. and graduating in 2004. At Harvard, he was a member of the men's varsity crew team, the Porcellian Club
Porcellian Club
The Porcellian Club is a men's-only final club at Harvard University, sometimes called the Porc or the P.C. The year of founding is usually given as 1791, when a group began meeting under the name "the Argonauts," or as 1794, the year of the roast pig dinner at which the club, known first as "the...

 and the Hasty Pudding Club
Hasty Pudding Club
The Hasty Pudding Club is a social club for Harvard students. It was founded by Nymphus Hatch, a junior at Harvard College, in 1770. The club is named for the traditional American dish that the founding members ate at their first meeting...

.

In 2009, Winklevoss began graduate business study at the Said Business School
Saïd Business School
Saïd Business School is the business school of the University of Oxford in England, located on the north side of Frideswide Square on the former site of Oxford Rewley Road railway station. It is the University's centre of learning for graduate and undergraduate students in business, management...

 at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

. While at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, he was a member of Christ Church
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

, an Oxford Blue, and rowed in the Blue Boat
Blue Boat
The Blue Boat is the highest level boat representing the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge in the Universities' annual rowing clash on the River Thames: The Boat Race...

 in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.

ConnectU

In December 2002, Winklevoss, along with his brother Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Tyler Winklevoss. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard...

 and fellow Harvard classmate Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra is an American businessman. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss....

, sought a better way to connect with fellow students at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and other universities. The three conceived of a social network
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...

 for Harvard students named HarvardConnection; the concept ultimately expanded to other schools around the country. In January 2003, they enlisted the help of fellow Harvard student, programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...

 and friend Sanjay Mavinkurve to begin building HarvardConnection. Mavinkurve commenced work on HarvardConnection but departed the project in spring 2003 when he graduated and went to work for Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

.

After the departure of Mavinkurve, the Winklevosses and Narendra approached Narendra’s friend, Harvard student and programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...

 Victor Gao, to work on HarvardConnection. Gao, a senior in Mather House, opted not to become a partner in the venture, instead agreeing to be paid in a work for hire
Work for hire
A work made for hire is an exception to the general rule that the person who actually creates a work is the legally recognized author of that work...

 capacity. He was paid $400 for his work on the website code during the summer and fall of 2003, when he left the project.

Mark Zuckerberg

In November 2003, at the suggestion of Victor Gao, the Winklevosses and Narendra approached Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...

 about joining the HarvardConnection team. The previous HarvardConnection programmers had reportedly made progress on coding front-end pages, the registration system, a database, back-end coding, and a way users could connect with each other, which Gao called a "handshake". In early November, Narendra emailed Zuckerberg saying, “We’re very deep into developing a site which we would like you to be a part of and ... which we know will make some waves on campus.” Within days, Zuckerberg was talking to the HarvardConnection team and preparing to take over programming duties from Gao. On the evening of November 25, 2003, the Winklevosses and Narendra met with Zuckerberg in the dining hall of Harvard's Kirkland House
Kirkland House
Kirkland House is one of the 12 undergraduate houses at Harvard University, located near the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was named after John Thornton Kirkland, president of Harvard University from 1810 to 1828. Some of the buildings were built in 1914 but construction was not...

, where they explained to Zuckerberg the HarvardConnection website, the plan to expand to other schools after launch, the confidential nature of the project, and the importance of getting there first. During the meeting, Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg is a Jewish surname of German origin:* Mark Zuckerberg , American programmer and internet enterpreneur, CEO of Facebook* Randi Zuckerberg American psychologist and enterpreneur, former marketing director of Facebook...

 allegedly entered into an oral contract
Oral contract
An oral contract is a contract the terms of which have been agreed by spoken communication, in contrast to a written contract, where the contract is a written document...

 with Narendra and the Winklevosses and became a partner in HarvardConnection. He was given the private server location and
password for the unfinished HarvardConnection website and code, with the understanding that he would finish the programming necessary for launch. Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg is a Jewish surname of German origin:* Mark Zuckerberg , American programmer and internet enterpreneur, CEO of Facebook* Randi Zuckerberg American psychologist and enterpreneur, former marketing director of Facebook...

 allegedly chose to be compensated through an interest in the enterprise (sweat equity
Sweat equity
Sweat equity is a term that refers to a party's contribution to a project in the form of effort --- as opposed to financial equity, which is a contribution in the form of capital....

).

On November 30, 2003, Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg is a Jewish surname of German origin:* Mark Zuckerberg , American programmer and internet enterpreneur, CEO of Facebook* Randi Zuckerberg American psychologist and enterpreneur, former marketing director of Facebook...

 told Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Tyler Winklevoss. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard...

 in an email that he did not expect completion of the project to be difficult. Zuckerberg writes: "I read over all the stuff you sent and it seems like it shouldn't take too long to implement, so we can talk about that after I get all the basic functionality up tomorrow night." The next day, on December 1, 2003, Zuckerberg sent another email to the HarvardConnection team. "I put together one of the two registration pages so I have everything working on my system now. I'll keep you posted as I patch stuff up and it starts to become completely functional." On December 4, 2003, Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg is a Jewish surname of German origin:* Mark Zuckerberg , American programmer and internet enterpreneur, CEO of Facebook* Randi Zuckerberg American psychologist and enterpreneur, former marketing director of Facebook...

 writes: "Sorry I was unreachable tonight. I just got about three of your missed calls. I was working on a problem set." On December 10, 2003: "The week has been pretty busy thus far, so I haven't gotten a chance to do much work on the site or even think about it really, so I think it's probably best to postpone meeting until we have more to discuss. I'm also really busy tomorrow so I don't think I'd be able to meet then anyway." A week later: "Sorry I have not been reachable for the past few days. I've basically been in the lab the whole time working on a cs problem set which I'm still not finished with." On December 17, 2003, Zuckerberg met with the Winklevosses and Narendra in his dorm room, allegedly confirming his interest and assuring them that the site was almost complete. On the whiteboard in his room, Zuckerberg allegedly had scrawled multiple lines of code under the heading “Harvard Connection,” however, this would be the only time they saw any of his work. On January 8, 2004, Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg is a Jewish surname of German origin:* Mark Zuckerberg , American programmer and internet enterpreneur, CEO of Facebook* Randi Zuckerberg American psychologist and enterpreneur, former marketing director of Facebook...

 emailed to say he was "completely swamped with work [that] week" but had "made some of the changes ... and they seem[ed] to be working great" on his computer. He said he could discuss the site starting the following Tuesday, on January 13, 2004. On January 11, 2004, Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg is a Jewish surname of German origin:* Mark Zuckerberg , American programmer and internet enterpreneur, CEO of Facebook* Randi Zuckerberg American psychologist and enterpreneur, former marketing director of Facebook...

 registered the domain name thefacebook.com. On January 12, 2004, Zuckerberg e-mailed Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo P. Saverin is a Brazilian-born American internet entrepreneur and investor. Saverin is best known for co-founding Facebook, along with Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes...

, saying that the Facebook site [thefacebook.com] was almost complete and that they should discuss marketing strategies. Two days later, on January 14, 2004, Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg is a Jewish surname of German origin:* Mark Zuckerberg , American programmer and internet enterpreneur, CEO of Facebook* Randi Zuckerberg American psychologist and enterpreneur, former marketing director of Facebook...

 met again with the HarvardConnection team; however, he allegedly failed to disclose registering the domain name thefacebook.com or developing a competing social networking website. Rather, he allegedly reported progress on HarvardConnection, told the team he would continue to work on it, and would email the group later in the week. On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com, a social network for Harvard students, designed to expand to other schools around the country.

On February 6, 2004, the Winklevosses and Narendra first learned of thefacebook.com while reading a press release in the Harvard student newspaper The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...

. According to Gao, who looked at the HarvardConnection code afterward, Zuckerberg had left the HarvardConnection code incomplete and non-functional, with a registration that did not connect with the back-end connections. On February 10, 2004, the Winklevosses and Narendra sent Zuckerberg a cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....

 letter. They also lodged a complaint with the Harvard administration regarding what they viewed as a violation of the university’s honor code and student handbook. The Harvard Administrative Board and university president Larry Summers reportedly viewed the matter to be outside of the university's jurisdiction. President Summers advised the HarvardConnection team to take their matter to the courts.

Leaked instant messages

Between November 30, 2003, and February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg exchanged a total of 52 emails with the Harvard Connection team and engaged in multiple in-person meetings. During the same period of time, Zuckerberg engaged in multiple electronic instant message communications with people outside of the HarvardConnection team. On March 5, 2010, certain electronic instant messages from Mark Zuckerberg's hard drive were leaked to the public. On September 20, 2010, Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 confirmed the authenticity of these leaked instant messages in a New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

article.

The HarvardConnection team subsequently allegedly formed a partnership The Winklevoss Chang Group with i2hub
I2hub
i2hub was a peer-to-peer file sharing service and program designed and intended primarily for use by university and college students. The program was created by Wayne Chang, a student at University of Massachusetts, Amherst...

, joining the popular peer-to-peer service with ConnectU
ConnectU
ConnectU was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004 that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about...

. The partnership promoted their properties through bus advertisements and press releases. i2hub
I2hub
i2hub was a peer-to-peer file sharing service and program designed and intended primarily for use by university and college students. The program was created by Wayne Chang, a student at University of Massachusetts, Amherst...

 integrated its popular software with ConnectU
ConnectU
ConnectU was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004 that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about...

's website as part of the partnership. The team also jointly launched several projects and initiatives.

Facebook lawsuits

In 2004, ConnectU filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that creator Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...

 had broken an oral contract
Oral contract
An oral contract is a contract the terms of which have been agreed by spoken communication, in contrast to a written contract, where the contract is a written document...

 with it. The suit alleged that Zuckerberg had copied ConnectU's idea and illegally used source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

 intended for the website Zuckerberg was hired to develop. Facebook countersued with respect to Social Butterfly, a The Winklevoss Chang Group project. The countersuit named among the defendants ConnectU
ConnectU
ConnectU was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004 that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about...

, Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Tyler Winklevoss. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard...

, Tyler Winklevoss, Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra is an American businessman. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss....

, and Wayne Chang
Wayne Chang
Wayne Chang is an American entrepreneur and computer programmer. He is best known for creating i2hub, a peer-to-peer filesharing network.-Personal life:...

, founder of i2hub
I2hub
i2hub was a peer-to-peer file sharing service and program designed and intended primarily for use by university and college students. The program was created by Wayne Chang, a student at University of Massachusetts, Amherst...

. An agreement settling both cases was reached in February, 2008, and was reportedly valued at $65 million. In May 2010, however, ConnectU accused Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 of misrepresenting the value of the stock that it turned over to the ConnectU plaintiffs as part of the settlement and sought to void the settlement. ConnectU
ConnectU
ConnectU was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004 that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about...

 alleges that the value of the stock was $11 million rather than $45 million, as represented by Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 at the time of settlement. As a result, the total settlement value would have been $31 million, rather than the $65 million reported. On August 26, 2010, the New York Times reported that Facebook shares were then trading at $76 per share in the secondary market, putting the value of the total settlement at close to $120 million. If the lawsuit to revise the settlement were to succeed, the settlement value would rise to $466 million. In April, 2011, Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...

 judge Alex Kozinski
Alex Kozinski
Alex Kozinski is Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, an essayist, and a judicial commentator.-Biography:...

 opined that "[a]t some point, litigation must come to an end. ... That point has now been reached." The twins' lawyer said they will seek a rehearing with the entire appeals court bench. In June 2011 it was announced that a decision to pursue the case in the Supreme Court had been withdrawn.

Quinn Emanuel lawsuits

One of ConnectU's law firms, Quinn Emanuel, inadvertently disclosed the confidential settlement amount in marketing material by printing "WON $65 million settlement against Facebook". Quinn Emanuel sought $13 million as its contingency fee related to the original settlement. ConnectU fired Quinn Emanuel and sued the law firm for malpractice. On August 25, 2010, an arbitration panel ruled that Quinn Emanuel "earned its full contingency fee." The panel also found that Quinn Emanuel committed no malpractice.

The Winklevoss Chang Group lawsuit

On December 21, 2009, i2hub
I2hub
i2hub was a peer-to-peer file sharing service and program designed and intended primarily for use by university and college students. The program was created by Wayne Chang, a student at University of Massachusetts, Amherst...

 founder Wayne Chang
Wayne Chang
Wayne Chang is an American entrepreneur and computer programmer. He is best known for creating i2hub, a peer-to-peer filesharing network.-Personal life:...

 and The i2hub Organization launched a lawsuit against ConnectU
ConnectU
ConnectU was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004 that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about...

 and its founders, Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Tyler Winklevoss. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard...

, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra
Divya Narendra is an American businessman. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss....

, seeking 50% of the settlement proceeds from the original lawsuit. The complaint says "The Winklevosses and Howard Winklevoss filed [a] patent application, U.S. Patent Application No 20060212395, on or around March 15, 2005, but did not list Chang as a co-inventor. It also states "Through this litigation, Chang asserts his ownership interest in The Winklevoss Chang Group and ConnectU
ConnectU
ConnectU was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004 that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about...

, including the settlement proceeds." Lee Gesmer of Gesmer Updegrove, LLP posted the detailed 33-page complaint online.

On May 13, 2011, it was reported that Judge Peter Lauriat made a ruling against the Winklevosses. Chang's case against them could proceed. The Winklevosses had argued that the court lacks jurisdiction because the settlement with Facebook has not been distributed and therefore Chang hasn't suffered any injury. Judge Lauriat wrote, "The flaw in this argument is that defendants appear to conflate loss of the settlement proceed with loss of rights. Chang alleges that he has received nothing in return for the substantial benefits he provided to ConnectU, including the value of his work, as well as i2hub's users and goodwill." Lauriat also wrote that, although Chang's claims to the settlement are "too speculative to confer standing, his claims with respect to an ownership in ConnectU are not. They constitute an injury separate and distinct from his possible share of the settlement proceeds. The court concludes that Chang has pled sufficient facts to confer standing with respect to his claims against the Winklevoss defendants."

Regatta Riverview lawsuit

In May 2005, the Winklevoss twins were evicted from an apartment in the Regatta Riverview complex in Cambridge over failure to pay rent, repeated complaints of noisy parties, and over the arrest of Cameron for smashing plates, drawers, and a door with a hammer in a 5 a.m. fit of drunken rage at his brother. The twins retaliated by registering false domain names such as regattaboston.org and regattaboston.net, posting defamatory information, and buying ads from Google to direct traffic to these fabricated sites. The Regatta Riverview filed suit in July 2005, and the twins settled for undisclosed terms within two days.

Rowing

Winklevoss began rowing at the age of 15, encouraged by family friends and the example of a neighbor, Ethan Ayer, who rowed at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and Cambridge University. He began rowing at the Saugatuck Rowing Club on the Saugatuck River
Saugatuck River
The Saugatuck River is a river in southwestern Connecticut in the United States. It drains part of suburban and rural Fairfield County west of Bridgeport, emptying into Long Island Sound.-Description:...

 in 1997. His first coach was Irishman James Mangan who coached him and his brother throughout high school. Winklevoss' high school did not have a crew team. In his junior year, he and his identical twin brother, Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Winklevoss
Cameron Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Tyler Winklevoss. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard...

, co-founded the crew program at their high school. In the summer of 1999, he made the United States Junior National Rowing Team, competing in the coxed pair
Coxed pair
A coxed pair is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two persons who propel the boat with sweep oars and is steered by a coxswain....

 event with his brother at the Junior World Rowing Championships
Junior World Rowing Championships
The World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA . A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31st December of the year in which he reaches the age of 18. After that date, he shall be classified as an Under 23 rower...

 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Tyler's rowing discipline is sweep rowing
Sweep (rowing)
Sweep or sweep-oar rowing is a type of rowing when a rower has one oar, usually held with both hands. As each rower has only one oar, the rowers have to be paired so that there is an oar on each side of the boat. This is in contrast to sculling when a rower has two oars, one in each hand. In the...

. He lists Italian cyclist Mario Cipollini
Mario Cipollini
Mario Cipollini , often abbreviated to "Cipo", is a retired Italian professional road cyclist most noted for his sprinting ability, the longevity of his dominance and his colourful personality. His nicknames include Il Re Leone and Super Mario...

 and Italian rowers the Abbagnale brothers (Agostino Abbagnale
Agostino Abbagnale
Agostino Abbagnale is an Italian rower and Triple Olympic gold medalist. He is also the younger brother of multiple Olympic medalists Carmine Abbagnale and Giuseppe Abbagnale....

 and Giuseppe Abbagnale
Giuseppe Abbagnale
Giuseppe Abbagnale is an Italian competition rower and Olympic champion.He received a gold medal in coxed pairs, with Giuseppe di Capua and his younger brother Carmine, at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and again at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul...

) as the most influential people in his sporting career.

Harvard

Winklevoss rowed at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 for 4 years under legendary coach Harry Parker, while completing his undergraduate studies. In 2004, he sat 5-seat in the "engine room" of the Harvard men's varsity
Varsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...

 heavyweight eight boat
Eight (rowing)
An Eight is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for eight rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars, and is steered by a coxswain, or cox....

. The 2004 crew was nicknamed the "God Squad" because, according to Winklevoss, some of them believed in god while the rest believed they were god. As a Harvard Crimson
Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson are the athletic teams of Harvard University. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2006, there were 41 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country...

 in 2004, they thought he helped the "God Squad" win the Eastern Sprints
Eastern Sprints
Eastern Sprints refers to the annual rowing championship for the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges . Since 1974, the "Women's Eastern Sprints" has been held as the annual championship for the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges league.*For the women's regatta, see Women's Eastern...

, the Intercollegiate Rowing Association
Intercollegiate Rowing Association
The Intercollegiate Rowing Association runs the IRA Championship Regatta, which is considered to be the United States collegiate national championship of rowing. Since 1995, it has been held on the Cooper River in Pennsauken, New Jersey, and includes both men's and women's events for sweep boats...

 Championship, and the Harvard-Yale Regatta
Harvard-Yale Regatta
The Harvard-Yale Boat Race or Harvard–Yale Regatta is an annual rowing race between Yale University and Harvard University. First contested in 1852, annually since 1859 except during major wars fought by the United States, The Race is America's oldest collegiate athletic competition, predating The...

 to cap-off an undefeated collegiate racing season.

In the summer of 2004, Winklevoss and the "God Squad" traveled to Lucerne, Switzerland to compete in the Lucerne
Lucerne
Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...

 Rowing World Cup
Rowing World Cup
The World Rowing Cup is an international rowing competition organized by FISA . It first began in 1997 and comprises three regattas held throughout early summer. In each event points are awarded to the top seven finishing boats and an overall winner determined after the last world cup regatta...

. They defeated the 2004 British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 Olympic eight boats
Eight (rowing)
An Eight is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for eight rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars, and is steered by a coxswain, or cox....

 in the semi-final to earn a spot in the grand-final, in which they placed 6th. The team then traveled to the Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...

 where they competed in the Grand Challenge Cup
Grand Challenge Cup
The Grand Challenge Cup is a rowing competition for men's eights. It is the oldest and most prestigious event at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing clubs...

. Winklevoss helped his team defeat the Cambridge University Blue Boat
Blue Boat
The Blue Boat is the highest level boat representing the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge in the Universities' annual rowing clash on the River Thames: The Boat Race...

 in the semi-final before they fell to the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 Olympic eight boat
Eight (rowing)
An Eight is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for eight rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars, and is steered by a coxswain, or cox....

 team (of the Hollandia Roeiclub) in the final by of a boat length. The Dutch team went on to win the Olympic silver medal
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

 at the Athens Olympic Games
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

 a month later.

2007 Pan American Games

In 2007, Winklevoss was named to the United States Pan American Team and competed at the 2007 Pan American Games
2007 Pan American Games
The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to July 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Committees competed in 332 events in 34 sports and in...

 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He won a silver medal
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

 in the men's coxless four
Coxless four
A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars.The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on the stroke side and two on the bow side...

 event and stroked the men's eight boat
Eight (rowing)
An Eight is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for eight rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars, and is steered by a coxswain, or cox....

 to a gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 on the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas
Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas
Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, mostly known as "Lagoa", is a lagoon and district in the Lagoa, Zona Sul of Rio de Janeiro. The lagoon is connected to the Atlantic, allowing sea water to enter, by a canal which is bordered by the park locally known as Jardim de Alá.The lagoon is surrounded by the...

.

2008 Olympic Games

In 2008, Winklevoss was named to the United States Olympic Team and competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He rowed with his brother in the men's coxless pair
Coxless pair
A Coxless pair is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars.The crew consists of a pair of rowers, each having one oar, one on the stroke side and one on the bow side...

 event which took place at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park
Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park
The Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park is the new, purpose-built venue for the rowing, canoeing and 10 km open-water swimming events in the 2008 Summer Olympics. It is located in Mapo Village in the Shunyi District in Beijing....

. The brothers were coached by the renowned Ted Nash
Ted Nash (rower)
Theodore "Ted" Allison Nash is an American competition rower and Olympic champion, rowing coach, and sports administrator...

. In their first heat, they failed to finish in the top three and did not qualify for the Semifinals. In the Repechage (a last chance to make the Semifinals), they took first, advancing them to the Semifinals. A strong finish in Semifinal 2 put them in the Final. They ended up finishing sixth out of the fourteen countries which had qualified for the Olympics.

Popular culture

Tyler and his brother Cameron are both played by actor Armie Hammer
Armie Hammer
Armand Douglas "Armie" Hammer is an American actor. After appearing on television and playing the title role in 2008's Billy: The Early Years, he became known for his portrayal of the Winklevoss twins in the 2010 film The Social Network, and Clyde Tolson in J. Edgar...

 in The Social Network
The Social Network
The Social Network is a 2010 American drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, the film portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits...

(2010), a film directed by David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...

 about the founding of Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

. Actor Josh Pence
Josh Pence
Joshua Charles "Josh" Pence is an American actor, best known for playing Tyler Winklevoss in the 2010 film The Social Network.-Life and career:...

 was the body double for Tyler with Hammer's face superimposed. The twins are popularly referred to collectively as "the Winklevi."

External links

  • The Daily Truffle, Winklevoss Twins Come face to face with Josh Pence & Armie Hammer who play them in The Social Network
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