Sue Facebook for quick cash and fun: Top ten most whimsical lawsuits against Facebook to date

From people with serious concerns to people looking for quick money, everyone seems to be suing Facebook. Following are some of the most whimsical litigation filed against Facebook to date.

1. Denise Finkel, a student at the University of Albany, sued Facebook for $3 million in March 2009 for subjecting her to cyber bullying. She accused four of her ex-classmates at Oceanside High School, along with Facebook, of setting up a Facebook group calculated to hold the plaintiff up to public hatred, ridicule, and disgrace. Finkel sued Facebook apparently believing that the company should be held responsible for what is written on its pages. The password protected Facebook group allegedly said she had AIDS, was an intravenous drug user, and had inappropriate conduct with animals.

2. Xavior O., a 11-year old minor and his parents sued Facebook in August 2009, for allowing the minor to open a Facebook account without the knowledge or consent of his parents or guardian. The minor user had uploaded personal information, videos and photographs, including swimming and partially clothed photographs of children aged 5 to 11. He had also posted a status update saying he has swine flu... Please pray for me... God Bless. Parents accused Facebook of indiscriminate dissemination of posts, videos, pictures and other information uploaded by the user who was probably lying about his medical condition.

3. Elvina Beck, an actress and model residing in Los Angeles, sued Facebook in August 2009, because users viewed, shared and downloaded her photographs and information on Facebook. She alleged that Facebook posed a threat to her career since her name, likeness and photos are highly valuable commercial assets, which were being used without monetarily compensating the owner of the data.

4. Catherine Aiko, a college student, sued Facebook in August 2009, for changing over time. She joined Thefacebook in May 2005, when a verified college email id was required to sign up. Thefacebook then stated that it was limited to your own college or university and members could use Thefacebook to search for people at your school, find out who is in your class and look up your friends' friends. Thefacebook became Facebook later, with changes in terms of service and privacy settings, without the consent of the already existing user.

5. Elisha Melkonian, a photographer from Orange County, sued Facebook in August 2009, alleging that the network let users download images she captured without her consent. She said her photographs were protected by federal copyright law, which prevented Facebook users from downloading it even though she herself had posted it online.

6. Jack Thompson, a long-time critic of the video game industry, sued Facebook in October 2009, for $40 million. The critic, notorious for frivolous litigations against videogame makers including Grand Theft Auto's Take Two Interactive and Sony Computer Entertainment America, said that Facebook failed to remove the angry videogame fan groups which were posing a threat to his life and reputation. I Hate Jack Thompson, Stop Jack Thompson, Disbar Jack Thompson, Jack Thompson should be smacked across the face with an Atari 2600, and I will pay $50 to anyone who punches Jack Thompson in the face. If someone can get a video clip of themselves punching Jack Thompson in the face I'll PayPal them $50, were some of the links Thompson listed in the lawsuit against Facebook.

7. Jason Hardebeck of WhoGlue Inc. sued Facebook in 2009, saying he owned a patent for Distributed personal relationship information management system and methods which Facebook is allegedly using without his permission. Jason said Facebook failed to buy the patent in an online auction for intellectual property rights, which allegedly held them guilty of patent infringement.

8. Two Los Angeles County teenagers sued Facebook in August 2010, alleging that their names and photographs were used unwittingly in advertisements without parental permission. The plaintiffs said that whenever they 'liked' a product or a service, their network friends were notified, which made the two look like they were endorsing the products or services. The teens said that Facebook was violating a California law that requires parental consent for children to make commercial endorsements.

9. Mustafa Fteja, 30-year-old man, sued Facebook in January 2011, for taking down his account without explanation and for religious discrimination. Fteja, an Albanian Muslim who moved to the U.S. when he was 17, claimed that he has always been a model citizen. He said he hardly posted anything on Facebook Wall or never tried spreading spam or inappropriate content. He said since he didn't do anything, Facebook deactivated his account on grounds of him being a Muslim.

10. The parents of an aspiring teacher, Caroline Wimmer, who was strangled on Staten Island, sued Facebook, in March 2011, over a gruesome photo of their murdered daughter that an Emergency Medical Technician had posted on the site. The lawsuit demanded Facebook to take down the picture, track those who downloaded it and destroy it from their possession.