Lawsuit accuses Arianna Huffington of stealing the idea for The Huffington Post
By Virginia SmithNovember 16th, 2010, 3:00 pmComments (3)
With Tina Brown now being labeled a hagfish, is her uncomfortable frenemy Arianna Huffington just an old-school thief? Such is the claim of Peter Daou and James Boyce, two media consultants suing the self-styled patron saint of the liberal blogosphere and her partner Ken Lerer, on the claim that the pair lifted the idea for the site and have since refused to give them credit.
From the complaint:
Huffington’s and Lerer’s image with respect to the Huffington Post is founded on false impressions and inaccuracies: They presented the ‘new media’ ideas and plans of Peter Daou and James Boyce as their own in order to raise money for the website and enhance their image, and breached their promises to work with Peter and James to develop the site together.
So wait, a media mogul (and previously accused plagiarist) might not be giving credit where it’s due for a hugely successful website? Do I detect the groundwork for a sequel to The Social Network, but with less sex and more political blogging? Aaron Sorkin, you’re welcome.
Commentarium (3 Comments)
The "Idea for a Web Site" is worth exactly nothing. It's all in the implementation and promotion. We see this time and again. Now, promises to work with other parties and develop the site together *might* be contractual obligations and have some value, but that depends on the original negotiations/discussions/contracts.
This piece was cgoent, well-written, and pithy.
Now you say something