The WSJ says they have seen a copy of a contract (signed in 2003) giving an investor an 84% stake in the website that was to eventually become Facebook. This contract is now the subject of a new lawsuit against the privately held company.

The WSJ says:

A copy of the contract seen by The Wall Street Journal says it is ” “for the purchase and design of a suitable website for the project Seller [Mr. Zuckerberg] has already initiated that is designed to offer the students of Harvard university [sic] access to a wesite [sic] similar to a live functioning yearbook with the working title of ‘The Face Book.” ‘

The date of the contract appears to conflict with previous accounts of the creation of Facebook. Mr. Zuckerberg built a predecessor to Facebook called Facemash in October and November 2003, but Mr. Zuckerberg didn’t register the domain thefacebook.com until January 2004.

The person claiming to have the contract currently stands accused, by the Attorney General of New York, of defrauding customers of his wood-pellet fuel company.

A judge has issued a temporary restraining order restricting the transfer of Facebook Inc.’s assets in response to the lawsuit, says the WSJ.

Web Designer Claims Ownership of Facebook [WSJ]

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