Chinese firm eyes suing Facebook over Timeline feature

The Timeline feature is threatening to be double trouble for social networking giant Facebook. Already facing flak from users who are not happy with Timeline, Facebook faces a suit from a Chinese firm for allegedly stealing the Timeline name and concept. UK's The Register cited a report by MIC Gadget that Cubic Network (L99.com), a Pinterest-like web startup founded in 2008 by Harvard graduate Xiong Wanli, is considering taking the legal action against Facebook. "Cubic Network knew about the potential patent infringement when Facebook’s Timeline was launched but has apparently only now decided on taking action after a sagely bit of advice from some evil money-grabbing friendly US lawyers," it noted. Xiong claimed to have launched a Timeline feature in February 2008, which let users display videos and images in chronological order. Facebook launched its own Timeline feature in 2011. It added Xiong also claimed the logo of Facebook’s F8 developer conference is similar to Cubic’s own logo. The Register also quoted the MIC Gadget report as saying one "M. Zuckerberg" had attended a talk by Xiong about the new feature at Stanford university. But it also noted Facebook is no stranger to the courtroom as its origin itself was the subject of a legal dispute between the Winklevoss brothers and Zuckerberg. — LBG, GMA News