The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled that Harvard Management violated its investment contract with a Montreal-based company by selling its stake to a private equity firm formed by former Harvard staff members. The New York Sun reports that problems arose when the new firm, Charlesbank Capital Partners, tried to get the Canadian company, Blinds To Go, to buy back its stake. A dispute over share price erupted, and the two sides have been in a legal tangle over it for the past four years. According to the original contract with Harvard, The Sun reports, the school could transfer its investment to an affiliate, but not to a non-affiliate such as Charlesbank, without offering Blinds to Go first dibs on the stake. But while the appeals court found Harvard had violated the contract, all it required was that the university unwind the investment, as a lower court had ruled. Judge Bruce Selya, writing for the First Circuit, said the decision "pleased no one."