Facebook says Zuckerberg signature likely 'forged'

Facebook said in a statement Friday that a lawsuit from a man who claims he owns 84 percent of the company is based on a contract that was likely "forged." It's an unusually forceful denial coming from a company that prefers not to talk about pending litigation.

A Facebook lawyer had initially said that the company was "unsure" whether CEO Mark Zuckerberg had ever signed an agreement with the plaintiff, New York resident Paul Ceglia, to help build something called "The Face Book" in 2003 and in which Ceglia would have an 84 percent stake today. Documents provided by Ceglia indicated that something that appears to be Zuckerberg's signature does indeed appear on a contract. But in his high-profile "ABC World News" interview on Wednesday night, Zuckerberg said that "I think we were quite sure that we did not sign a contract that says that they have any right to ownership over Facebook."

Now, an official Facebook statement backs him up and goes so far as to say the company believes the contract is probably a phony.

For more on this story, read Facebook says Ceglia contract was likely 'forged' on CNET News.