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CrunchPad Federal Lawsuit Filed; Some Additional Thoughts

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Re: CrunchPad Federal Lawsuit Filed; Some Additional Thoughts

#91

Post by clawrencewenham »

andrewcooke wrote: post #30

has this got to the point where we can start using "crunchpad" to mean "a godawful mess" or similar? as in "i wanted to grow organically; he wanted a big marketing push: it ended in a total crunchpad". or "someone didn't tighten the nuts; front driverside wheel came off on a mountain road: complete crunchpad". or "flock of birds triggered a false alarm; first strike; automated response: crunchpad". it happened with c…

"Crunchpad" could also come to mean "The drama is the product".

The saga has the appearance of deliberate, or perhaps just subconscious submarining for the sake of having something sensational to blog about.

(Perhaps this is a good topic for an essay: how blogging twists the mind to make everything you do seem like a blog entry.)

Re: CrunchPad Federal Lawsuit Filed; Some Additional Thoughts

#92

Post by jsz0 »

fjabre wrote: post #27

Ok so it seems a lot of people are eager to call out Arrington for being foolish here.. Hindsight is 20/20 and while it's clear TC and friends made some key mistakes let's not burn them at the cross like so many in this forum are doing.. I'm working in a startup with a Neurologist who has an appointment at Harvard and an MBA - no doubt he's a smart guy. Nevertheless that didn't really matter a few years ago when our…

Arrington and TC point fingers and pre-judge things on a daily basis. I think people are enjoying the roles being reversed. It seems both sides have some major inconsistencies in their stories and both have bad reputations in certain circles. It seems likely to me that both parties involved did some shady things so anyone striving to find a classic right vs. wrong story here is likely to be disappointed.

Re: CrunchPad Federal Lawsuit Filed; Some Additional Thoughts

#93

Post by hristov »

lionhearted wrote: post #22
spec wrote: post #2

This confirms that they had no contracts - Arrington's "exhibits" are some blog posts and emails. This guy seriously used to be a lawyer? The initial price point was just an attempt to hype it up by Arrington, so this whole device would never be much anyway. BTW, Techcrunch is deleting any unfavorable comments on their blog, just as they have done many other times previously.

> This confirms that they had no contracts This is a misconception - a contract does not need to be written to be enforceable. A contract consists of an "offer" and "acceptance" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract#Offer_and_acceptance Techcrunch looks like it made an offer to work with someone to build a device, and Fusion looks like it accepted in some capacity by announcing they were working with them, tentativel…

Yes oral contracts can be enforceable, but (i) there are limits to the types of oral contracts that are enforceable (see statute of frauds) and (ii) even for an oral contract the parties have to show that both sides clearly intended to be bound by a contract (there are some exceptions to this, but they do not apply here).

From what I read it seems that neither party treated the relationship as if they are bound by a contract. On the contrary it seemed like they proceeded under the assumption that they will negotiate some type of a deal in the future, but currently did not want to bind themselves.

None of this is legal advice, etc.

Re: CrunchPad Federal Lawsuit Filed; Some Additional Thoughts

#94

Post by cma »

jonknee wrote: post #45
fjabre wrote: post #27

Ok so it seems a lot of people are eager to call out Arrington for being foolish here.. Hindsight is 20/20 and while it's clear TC and friends made some key mistakes let's not burn them at the cross like so many in this forum are doing.. I'm working in a startup with a Neurologist who has an appointment at Harvard and an MBA - no doubt he's a smart guy. Nevertheless that didn't really matter a few years ago when our…

I shed no tears when a lawyer doesn't think to make a contract and gets burned. How many times has he been on the other side skewering people who did the same thing?

It isn't likely that he didn't think to make a contract. More like he wanted better terms and thought he could jerk them around, and they thought the same thing. In the end they both win a dead product.

Re: CrunchPad Federal Lawsuit Filed; Some Additional Thoughts

#95

Post by yu »

grellas wrote: post #39

I have litigated a variety of "false promise" and breach of fiduciary cases on behalf of startups over the years and can share a few observations about what I see here (and I am seeing it literally for the first time, as I have not followed this story). 1. This obviously was an ill-documented relationship, though what is outlined in the complaint clearly suggests that it was either a joint venture of some type or at…

Great points. Earlier today I read an AP story before seeing this (now COB Friday). While I have not gone through the posts at TC, the AP story appeared to have checked/ covered/ summarized both sides http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=990515

Interesting Arrington said neither has rights to the product. Just pointing out from an independent AP source instead of TC.

Re: CrunchPad Federal Lawsuit Filed; Some Additional Thoughts

#96

Post by noonespecial »

andrewcooke wrote: post #30

has this got to the point where we can start using "crunchpad" to mean "a godawful mess" or similar? as in "i wanted to grow organically; he wanted a big marketing push: it ended in a total crunchpad". or "someone didn't tighten the nuts; front driverside wheel came off on a mountain road: complete crunchpad". or "flock of birds triggered a false alarm; first strike; automated response: crunchpad". it happened with c…

It will start out slow. As founders are making deals, they'll say to each other, "Document well, we don't want another CrunchPad here". Others will overhear and pick it up. "It was a total crunchpad." Then it will achieve meme status and people who have no idea where it came from will just post, CRUNCHPAD! in every thread detailing a startups failure. Divorced from the device, it evokes nice fail imagery. Launchpads -> Rockets ->failure ->crunch and dare I say it, Jar-Jar Binks.

I was getting tired of FAIL! anyway.

Re: CrunchPad Federal Lawsuit Filed; Some Additional Thoughts

#97

Post by netcan »

andrewcooke wrote: post #30

has this got to the point where we can start using "crunchpad" to mean "a godawful mess" or similar? as in "i wanted to grow organically; he wanted a big marketing push: it ended in a total crunchpad". or "someone didn't tighten the nuts; front driverside wheel came off on a mountain road: complete crunchpad". or "flock of birds triggered a false alarm; first strike; automated response: crunchpad". it happened with c…

JooJoo actually sounds better for that purpose. "What a JooJoo!"

Re: CrunchPad Federal Lawsuit Filed; Some Additional Thoughts

#98

Post by rbanffy »

jonknee wrote: post #86
rbanffy wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well... Not only he didn't get that much burned, he is suing Fusion Garage out of existence. And, unless most of the article is correct, he is also slandering them pretty bad.

Filing gets you nothing, he has to win the suit which will be really tricky because he didn't spell it out on paper first. Even then what does he have? Less money and no product. Not to mention looking extraordinarily incompetent in front of the public. Simply having a contract in place would have made this cut and dry.

Filing may get them nothing, but he can get an injunction that prevents FG from launching the product and thus getting funding for a coming legal battle. I bet the shortage of money would make them more amenable to Arrington's allegations of who owns the IP...

Looks increasingly like MA found some company who could develop a product and that could be bullied out of the deal when it's ready to be taken away.

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