When the executives of social-networking Web site Facebook sued a German-based business that had launched a copycat site, it was accepted as a good move — but was Facebook just sour by an offer gone poor?

Facebook officials filed suit against StudiVZ, a Germany-based social-networking Web site that is a near clone of Facebook, in a California court, saying the German site infringed on Facebook’s look, feel, design and services.

StudiVZ (short for Studentenverzeichnis, which means “student directory”)

is offered in German, French, Polish and Italian. The social network was launched in October 2005 by three students from Berlin, but was purchased by one of its investors, German publishing giant Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck. The price tag was more than $100 million.

As of last month, the Web site, dubbed “Fakebook,” reportedly had 10 million active users in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

StudiVZ, reportedly one of the most popular […]

Orginal post by dhiram