As has been widely reported by tech media outlets for a few days now, Facebook filed a lawsuit against studiVZ Ltd. in California federal court on Friday claiming the German network had copied its “look, feel, features and services.” Today the recipient of the suit issued a public response on the matter. StudiVZ said that prior to Facebook’s own filing in the U.S., lawyers representing Palo Alto-based network had communicated messages that “prompted studiVZ to file for a declaratory judgment at the District Court in Stuttgart, Germany” the same day. StudiVZ would not elaborate as of yet, however, saying that it had not been formally served with Facebook’s complaint, and therefore “cannot comment in detail about the content of the claims.”
“Now that Facebook, despite trying hard, has not been successful in the German market, the company seeks to obstruct studiVZ through court action. Their strategy appears to be: If you can't beat them, sue them.