Mark Zuckerberg will not be questioned by man claiming half-ownership of Facebook

A MAN who claims Mark Zuckerberg made a deal nine years ago that entitles him to half-ownership of social networking site Facebook won’t be allowed to question its founder or search his computers at this point in his federal lawsuit, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Paul Ceglia’s lawyers will get the chance, though, to grill Facebook’s experts about their findings that Ceglia’s lawsuit is based on a fake document.

A federal magistrate judge issued the ruling following the latest round of legal arguments in a case with potentially billions of dollars at stake.

Palo Alto, California-based Facebook last month filed a motion to dismiss the case, based largely on its experts’ findings that cast doubt on the authenticity of a two-page contract at the center of the dispute.

In his 2010 lawsuit, Ceglia claims that he and Zuckerberg signed the document in 2003, when he hired Zuckerberg, then a Harvard University freshman, to help him develop a street-mapping database. According to the Ceglia, the contract includes language showing he also gave Zuckerberg $1,000 in startup money for his Facebook idea in exchange for half-ownership of the company if it grew.

Zuckerberg has countered that he hadn’t even conceived of Facebook at the time. His lawyers have accused Ceglia of doctoring the street-mapping contract to insert Facebook references, citing evidence challenging the age of the ink and other details.

Magistrate Judge Leslie Foschio told Ceglia’s attorney, Dean Boland, to submit his experts’ reports on the contract in two months.

Each side will then get the chance to challenge the other’s findings.