A U.S. appeals court ruled that twins, from left, Cameron...

A U.S. appeals court ruled that twins, from left, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of the social networking website ConnectU, can't back out of the settlement deal they made in a lawsuit charging that Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea for Facebook. Credit: AFP / Getty Images File, 2011

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that former Harvard University schoolmates of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can't undo their settlement over creation of the social networking site.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were savvy enough to understand what they were agreeing to when they signed the agreement in 2008. The deal, which called for a $20-million cash payment and a partial ownership of Facebook, arose from litigation that grew so contentious that the dispute was dramatized in the Oscar-nominated film, "The Social Network."

Facebook said it was pleased by the ruling.

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