Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) Copied Timeline Feature From it, Claims a Chinese Company

The world's No.1 social networking site Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has been sued by a Chinese company for stealing the idea of its contentious Timeline feature from it.

Cubic Networks, which also has a social networking site, said that it had launched a similar feature way back in 2008. Facebook's timeline was introduced in 2011. It is a feature that shows users' activities on the site in a chronological format. It is supposed to make it easier for the users to track their updates and see what they did at a particular point in time, but has invited a lot of flak over privacy concerns.

Cubic's Chief Executive Xiong Wanli said in a recent interview to a local Chinese newspaper, China Youth Daily ""As everybody can see, our Timeline function was available on the Internet."

"I especially introduced it in my speech at Stanford University, and Mark Zuckerberg was among the audience. Some American law firms are approaching us to ask if we would like to sue Facebook. If so, they would provide services."

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Xiong also told the newspaper that he has video evidence to prove that Facebook fonder Zuckerberg was at the Stanford University lecture listening to his comments on the timeline feature.

The Chinese company's boss claimed that he had been evaluating legal options for a long time but it was only now that he had gone ahead with the suit.

The company runs siteL99.com. Incidentally Facebook is not allowed to operate in China due to stringent restrictions in the market there.

Facebook has been facing a lot of issues with its Timeline feature lately, chiefly arising from violation of privacy of its users, where it takes user information and uses them without their knowledge or permission.

Recently, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission ordered the company to tighten its privacy rules.