Is Mike Arrington and TechCrunch taking legal action against Techcrush?

September 22, 2006

Interesting post at Techcrush, a Web 2.0 review site:techcrunch

We put down our pencils here at the Crush-Room for the next days due to possible legal issues. Please stay with us, we will see how things are going to work out.

Legal issues? we’ll the only possible person who could have legal issues with the site would be Mike Arrington, and it would be related to the name of the site, presuming that Arrington’s TechCrunch is a trade marked name. Now before everyone jumps up and down and says that it’s fair game legally because the name may well infringe on Arrington’s trademark, isn’t Web 2.0 suppose to be about being inclusive? Sure, the name similarity is there, but it’s hardly a major Techcrunch competitor, and we’re hardly going to mix up Techcrush with Techcrunch now are we? Story I guess is….developing 🙂

 

Update: Tony from Deep Jive Interests (via the comments) points to this comment on his blog where it would seem Mike Arrington confirms that he would be behind the C&D/ legal action against Techcrush. Mike can blame lawyers all he wants, at the end of the day he’s the one who says yes or no.

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10 responses to Is Mike Arrington and TechCrunch taking legal action against Techcrush?

  1. Yeah, I can confirm it does have to do with TechCrunch, as I’ve been in contact with those dudes over at TechCrush.

    We’ll see if they evolve into a different outfit (with name to match) over the next few days.

    http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/09/18/
    techcrunch-meets-its-fuckedcompanycom-maybe/#more-286
    ** Check out the comments section.

    Cheers
    t @ dji

  2. Sheesh … TechCrunch and Arrington are getting a bit high and mighty.

    Looking over at Deep Jive Interests …

    “seems like TechCrush will follow each of TechCrunch?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s profiled web2.0 companies 6 months after the profile ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì sort of follow up on that initial write up, and see how they?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢re doing.”

    What’s wrong with a bit of media watching, unless you’re watching Arrington and TC. Seems Arrington and thin-skinned go hand-in-hand.

    I think TC has become to big for it’s own good – why is most of the focus usually on Arrington when it should be on what’s being covered?

    I think we need some new blood covering web 2.0 – more the merrier, means less reliance on TC … means Arrington can deflate his ego and be just one of the pack reporting on Web 2.0.

  3. Thanks Tony, post updated.

  4. I assume legal action is over the similarities in the name, which is perfectly reasonable. Not sure I see the problem.

  5. I think my little quickly whipped up in photoshop graphic demonstrates the problem very, very well 🙂

  6. Hi, this is Lutz from Techcrush. A lot of misleading things were said about Techcrush and TechCrunch since yesterday. Valleywag even suggested there was a Cease-and-Desist. Well, Michael and us solved matters amicably, there was in fact NO C&D-letter and everything is just fine.
    I’m going back to regular duty now… 😉

Trackbacks and Pingbacks:

  1. Clique Communications: Online Community Marketing through Corporate Weblogs, Podcasts, and Internet Communities » Blog Archive » Is TechCrunch Trademarked - September 22, 2006

    […] Duncan Reilly has pointed out that TechCrush, who only recently launched, is putting a hold on things while they sort out some legalities. It would appear from this conversation at Deep Jive Interests, that Michael Arrington’s TechCrunch is the culprit. […]

  2. Deep Jive Interests » TechCrunch Trademark Tiff Ends Amicably (TechCrunch Lawyers Working Furiously To Secure Trademark?) - September 22, 2006

    […] TechCrunch Trademark Tiff Ends Amicably (TechCrunch Lawyers Working Furiously To Secure Trademark?) September 22nd, 2006 at 9:50 am by Tony Early this morning (eastern standard time), it seems like the whole trademark thing between TechCrunch and TechCrush has been nothing more than a tempest in a teapot, with the trademark tiff ending in very tempered way. […]

  3. Mathew Ingram: mathewingram.com/work - September 22, 2006

    Mike should lay off TechCrush — and Dead 2.0…

    Update 2:
    Apparently Mike and TechCrush have come to an agreement — TechCrush has changed its logo and everyone is as friendly as could be. According to a post at TechCrush:
    We had contact with Michael Arrington on a possible trademark infringeme…