NYC judge allows lawsuit against Huffington Post

brooklynite

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Wed May-25-11 03:12 PM
Original message

NYC judge allows lawsuit against Huffington Post

Source: Crain's NY Business

(AP) - A judge on Tuesday refused to throw out a lawsuit by two Democratic political consultants who allege that The Huffington Post's founders stole the idea for the online news website from them.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos denied a motion by lawyers for the media company to dismiss the lawsuit, meaning that the case will now likely move to the discovery phase of fact-finding by both sides.

Consultants Peter Daou and James Boyce sued in November 2010, alleging they had originally come up with the plan for the site's blend of blogs by prominent contributors, news aggregation and original content.

Messrs. Daou and Boyce said they discussed their plans with Huffington Post co-founders Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer in 2004, and believed they were partners. The two consultants claimed they were cut out of the deal after the co-founders raised millions of dollars to launch and develop the site. They seek unspecified damages.

Unless they have a contractual agreement on their participation which was violated, I don't see how having a plan for a site with "blogs by prominent contributors, news aggregation and original content" is remotely original (see SALON, SLATE, THE ATLANTIC, DAILY BEAST, etc....), and worthy of legal protection.

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WhiteTara

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Wed May-25-11 03:17 PM
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1. Just like the writers got no money for their efforts, but

Arianna made millions from AOL. She is starting to seem as though she did not leave her repukilcan values behind.

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brooklynite

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Wed May-25-11 03:22 PM
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2. They weren't offered any...

I know this annoys people here, but none of the pundits writing at HP has (to my knowledge) a written Contract or agreement on payment.

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WhiteTara

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Wed May-25-11 07:45 PM
Response to Reply #2

4. exactly. n/t

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juxtaposed

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Wed May-25-11 04:56 PM
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3. sue the hell out of aol, aka huffpost. Arianna is a repug from the ground up.

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Tempest

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Thu May-26-11 09:54 AM
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5. It's their own damned fault

Discussing a business model or plan with someone without first signing non-disclosure and non-competitive agreements is the dumbest thing imaginable.

"I don't see how having a plan for a site with "blogs by prominent contributors, news aggregation and original content" is remotely original (see SALON, SLATE, THE ATLANTIC, DAILY BEAST, etc....), and worthy of legal protection."

Very good point.

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Tempest

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Thu May-26-11 09:56 AM
Response to Original message

6. Apparently Ramos isn't much of a judge

Edited on Thu May-26-11 09:56 AM by Tempest

While the whole world was watching, the New York State courts, in the person of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos, conducted half-baked proceedings and issued a back-of-the-envelope ruling that was summarily tossed within 24 hours.

After a couple of hours, Ramos issued a handwritten order freezing the Wells/Wachovia deal. But on Sunday, Manhattan Appellate Division Justice James McGuire chucked the whole megillah.

...

He ruled that 1) Ramos didn't have the power to issue an order when he was out of state; 2) Ramos didn't have lawyers for both sides present and 3) Ramos was just too fuzzy in the way he wrote his decision.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2008-10-07/news/17907994_1_wachovia-citigroup-courts

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