He started a networking site for Harvard students. Now entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg has a site with over 30 million users. And as with many US entrepreneurs in such a situation, he's now found himself in court.

It seems to be a curious sign of status in the United States that once you're no longer below the radar in the business world, somebody quickly wants a piece of you.

At issue in a Massachusetts court case this week is whether the founder of the popular social networking stole the idea from a similar website, ConnectU, while an employee there. But as The Guardian reveals, though Silicon Valley is watching carefully, the kid remains cool.

"There is plenty at stake - some investors in Facebook are pinning the company's value at $10bn (£489m). Despite the publicity, Zuckerberg remains relatively aloof. The laid-back college dropout - famous for his dishevelled appearance and dress code of T-shirt and sandals - is focused on his work at the company's headquarters in Palo Alto, California."

According to the paper, Rupert Murdoch even recently joked about Facebook overtaking his MySpace site. Many watching community sites might say this is no joke.

But Facebook appears unshaken by being taken to court. Perhaps they see this as a sign they have arrived. The Independent this week reports Facebook has hired Gideon Yu, who last year as chief financial officer of YouTube, help sell the site to Google.

Is another sale in the air? We shall see. But the fact that Zuckerberg recently wore shoes in public, may just be be a sign that he's moving up in the world.