Paul Ceglia owned the Streetfax company in April 2003 when he hired a young Harvard freshman called Mark Zuckerberg. Ceglia claims that while employed with Streetfax, he gave Zuckerberg $1000 to help start Facebook. He now claims that due to stipulations in that contract, he is entitled to up to 84 per cent of its earnings.

According to ZDNet, Ceglia has started a website to help fund his lawsuit. He has invited any lawyers with legal or technical expertise to help "nail him (Zuckerberg) down for good".

Unfortunately for Ceglia, he does not have a good record with his legal representatives, having been dropped by no less than two firms and, prior to that, two high-profile lawyers since he indicated that he wanted to take on Facebook last year.

In July, the five-office strong American firm Edelson McGuire severed its links with the ambitious litigant, just one month after the global law firm DLA Piper had done the same.

One firm Ceglia won't be contacting is Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe who, according to ZDNet, Ceglia thinks might have "carelessly" included his home address on a document he alleges is forged, but which Facebook claims is an authentic contract between himself and Zuckerberg, which makes no reference to Facebook.

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Given his litany of failed legal relationships, Folklaw thinks it is unwise for Ceglia to be burning potential legal suitors before at least meeting them for coffee.

Folklaw is unsure whether Ceglia has seen The Social Network, which details the origins and the rise of both Facebook and Zuckerberg. It is certainly a pity Ceglia doesn't have an identical twin brother to back up his story.