Facebook filed court papers on Friday against German social network StudiVZ for copyright infringement. Facebook claims that the German company has copied its "look, feel, features and services." But StudiVZ isn't buying it, according to reports the social network has asked a German court to declare Facebook's suit without merit; however, the company says it has not received any court documents from Facebook yet.
Marcus Riecke, chief executive officer of StudiVZ, has blasted back at Facebook accusing it of attempting to build an international monopoly. Riecke points out the suit comes after Facebook unsuccessfully entered the German market earlier this year.
Of course, one look at the screenshot above, and it is clear that there is a striking similarity between the two sites (unless you count color templates as a major overhaul). Although, Facebook is apparently no stranger to finding inspiration from outside sources.
Earlier this year, Facebook settled a copyright infringement lodged by ConnectU, a social network that used to employ Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and accused him of stealing its ideas. And reports suggest that Facebook's latest redesign, which is due to launch today, incorporates ideas from social networking aggregator FriendFeed.
StudiVZ, which is an abbreviation for student's directory, currently has about 10 million members in Germany, Switzerland, Austria.
