Chinese social network claims IP theft over Facebook Timeline

The CEO of Chinese social network, L99.com, said he plans to sue Facebook, claiming that the latter's Timeline feature had infringed L99's intellectual property.

China Youth Daily reported Monday that Xiong Wanli claimed that L99.com in February 2008 had launched a feature that organized information chronologically.

Facebook's Timeline was first announced by its CEO Mark Zuckerberg last September, as part of wider changes to the site's features and appearance.

Xiong said the launch of L99's timeline feature was a matter of public record, adding he had video evidence that Zuckerberg attended a lecture he gave at Stanford University where he introduced the feature.

According to Xiong, United States-based lawyers have approached him to ask if L99 plans to sue Facebook.

Facebook's Timeline feature was also targeted in a previous lawsuit last year. Chicago-based Web site Timelines.com filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit against Facebook last September to stop it from implementing Timeline, arguing that its business could be "possibly eliminated" by the launch. Its request for a temporary restraining order was, however, rejected.