JooJoo men strike back at CrunchPad suit
TechCruncher 'fatally imprecise'
With Apple's latest cultware setting the world aflame over tablet PCs, it's easy to overlook another $500 couch potato media pad that made a rather spottier debut months earlier.
Fusion Garage is supposedly getting set to release its JooJoo internet pad soon. But first, it's aiming to quash a lawsuit filed by the device's former daddy, TechCrunch blogmeister Michael Arrington.
Better known by its former name, the CrunchPad, the JooJoo media tab is the spawn of a sloppy and very public fling between Arrington and the 13-person Singapore firm, Fusion Garage. After the CrunchPad project fell apart Fusion Garage decided it would keep moving forward with a product sans Arrington and TechCrunch branding.
Arrington responded to the news with a lawsuit claiming that Fusion Garage and its CEO, Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan, had turned on him and stole his ideas for CrunchPad. In a lawsuit filed against the firm in December, Arrington accused Fusion Garage of fraud and deceit, misappropriation of business ideas, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair competition, among other things.
Fusion Garage responded on Thursday with a legal motion to dismiss the lawsuit via a 31-page request arguing that Arrington's claims are "legally barred, facially [sic] flawed, and fatally imprecise."
While the lawsuit goes into great detail disputing each charge, the argument essentially hangs on the basis that there was never a legally binding contract between the two.
It argues Arrington's claim of "misappropriation of business ideas," for one, fails because no such claim exists under California law. And failing that, Arrington was more than eager to disclose his supposedly novel ideas for the CrunchPad "all over the internet" before its release, the filing states.
The filing also counters that allegations of a breach of fiduciary duty are "too vague and imprecise to state a claim." A copy of the full complaint can be found here (PDF).
Meanwhile, over at Venture Beat, Rathakrishnan vows that JooJoos will be on shelves by the end of February, and that it's larger, higher-resolution screen will be the device's biggest advantage over Apple's iPad. ®
COMMENTS
JooJoo
"Yes, yes. Whatever."
is the rough English equivalent of the Finnish phrase "joo joo". Nothing further, Your Honor.
Some explanation
"Facially flawed" is an abbreviated way to say "flawed on its face", which means in regular english "obviously f*ed up". I.e. what Fusion Garage are saying is that Arrington's compliant is so obviously stupid that it should be thrown out before a trial.
Which goes to Matthew 7's note... in the US you can make a motion for Summary Judgement before getting to trial. This is an attempt to get a judge to make a decision without the expense (for everyone) of a full trial. In making a motion for summary judgement you try to show the judge that the case should be immediately decided in your favor because there are no facts in dispute and that, furthermore, even an abject moron could see that you are in the right. The opposing party is also present when such a motion is made though. If successful everyone, including the Court, avoids all the expense and hassle of a trial.
IANAL though so, although I have an interest in law I don't know the details of what can go before summary judgement and not, how its done, etc.
ANyway...you can see the Fusion Garage position is that basically Arrington is not just probably wrong, but so obviously and unmistakably wrong that the court should just throw the whole thing out and not waste everyone's time. 'No idea if that will work or not.
j
Facially Flawed
thats funny I thought she was regularly "Facially Floored" in a canine like style
screen advantage over the iPad
but it's horrifically green!!!!
Yeah...
" it's larger, higher-resolution screen will be the device's biggest advantage over Apple's iPad"
and the stooopid name JooJoo will be the device's biggest disadvantage against *everything*
