The End of the CrunchPad?

Two weeks ago the long awaited Crunchpad was set to make its demo debut on the stage of Real-Time Crunchup on November 20th. The Crunchpad has taken 1.5 years of extensive work and effort. The plan was to present it so people could see and understand that you can hack the thing to run just about anything you want or desire. They were set to take orders of a 1000 units and then go into mass production in 2010.

Now it truly looks as if that dream will never be realized. The entire plan has crashed. On November 17, Chandra Rathakrishnan contacted Michael Arrington via email to make this announcement, : "We still acknowledge that Arrington and TechCrunch bring some value to your business endeavor...If he agrees to our terms, we would have Arrington assume the role of visionary/evangelist/marketing head and Fusion Garage would acquire the rights to use the Crunchpad brand and name. Personally, I don't think the name is all that important but you seem to be somewhat attached to the name."

It is shocking that no one appears to own the the intellectual property of the CrunchPad outright. Both the Brian Kindle and Michael Arrington team co own the intellectual property with Fusion Garage and the team lead by Brian Kindle own the Crunchpad trademark outright. Technically you would think that Fusion Garage could not build and market the CrunchPad outright without the Brian Kindle team. However, I'm sure if they changed the name and changed a bit of the basic intellectual property then they can step forward with their own production and still be within the legal grounds of everything.

This entire process is an unethical and shocking move on Fusion Garages part but that seems to be the way business operates. Whoever can stab their partner in the back first will win and come out on top. It appears that this is what Fusion Garage is doing to Brian Kindle, Michael Arrington, and the rest of the team.
Perhaps it is a power move to renegotiate the equity split but they are certainly going about it wrong if this is the case.

Mr Michael Arrington says that his team has spent the last week trying to contact Fusion Garage with no response until today when Chandra Rathakrishnan let it be known that the shareholders have not made any counteroffer or move to negotiate but they clearly stated that Crunchpad has not made any 'alternative offer' either.

I do not really see this as a negotiations ploy. I'm afraid there is something more sinister going and this plan has probably been in the works for a very long time. I think that Fusion Garage is trying to buy time to come out on top of all of this and control the product solely. But that is just my opinion. I find Michael Arrington's confidence in the legal system working everything out to be shocking. I highly doubt it will all work out. In the business world whoever is more cutthroat will ultimately win and the balance of the legal system does not play very well.

Unfortunately, the consumer will have to wait longer for the much anticipated Crunchpad to hit the marketplace. I'm sure that a similar product will arrive soon under another name besides Crunchpad, however. Unfortunately the consumer will ultimately not care what name the unit carries as long as it is as wonderful as promised. It is portable, small, light weight, and touch controlled. Many people can already feel the excitement building to try this new Internet option. A true laptop computer in every sense of the word that you can sit comfortably in your recliner or bed and use with ease. What more can the public want? I know that I will be anxiously awaiting this arrival either by the Crunchpad name or another name. Ultimately, it does not matter what name it arrives under as long as it arrives. I know this is unfortunate for the Brian Kindle and Michael Arrington team but this is what big business is in the world today.

Sources:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/30/crunchpad-end/