Harvard Newspaper Gets Subpoena in Web Site Case

The Harvard Crimson is reporting that it has been served with a subpoena seeking drafts of articles and copies of emails in a civil dispute between ConnectU LLC and Facebook.com.  Plaintiff ConnectU are suing the creator of Facebook.com for stealing the concept of the social networking site through an earlier venture, Harvard Connection.  Defendants are also accused on exploiting access to ConnectU's source code.

The newspaper said that it would not comply with the subpoena on the grounds that it seeks information not central to the litigation, compliance would compromise the newspaper's independence, and that the parties could easily get the same information elsewhere.

The Crimson's report is here.

Another account on ZDNet News is here.