Democratic Operatives Claim Arianna Huffington Stole Website Ideas
- Posted on November 15, 2010 at 9:43pm by
Meredith Jessup
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Peter Daou and James Boyce, two Democratic consultants, have filed suit in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan against liberal media mogul Arianna Huffington, namesake of of The Huffington Post.
According to their suit, the plaintiffs allege that Huffington and partner Ken Lerer designed the Post website from a plan Daou and Boyce had presented them, claiming that Huffington violated a handshake agreement to work together and their intellectual property rights over the site.
Politico’s Ben Smith reports:
The complaint is a direct challenge to the left’s most important media property from two stalwarts of the progressive movement. And it challenges Huffington’s own oft-told story of coming up with the idea in conversation with Lerer and other friends.
“Huffington has styled herself as a ‘new media’ maven and an expert on the effective deployment of news and celebrity on the Internet in the service of political ends,” says the complaint. “As will be shown at trial, 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.”
In response, Huffington has called the charges “completely absurd” and a “ludicrous supposition,” claiming the men were disgruntled former job applicants she had turned down for work in the past.
“We have now officially entered into Bizzaro World. James Boyce and Peter Daou, two political operatives who we rejected going into business with or hiring 6 years ago, and who had absolutely nothing to do with creating, running, financing, or building the Huffington Post, now concoct some scheme saying they own part of the company,” she and Lerer said in a written statement to POLITICO, writing that the two “tried to cash in” before filing suit and “said they’d go away for just a little money.”
Huffington’s statement goes on to claim that Boyce and Daou have “been trying to extract money” from the website company “for months.”
But Boyce and Daou are standing by their suit.
They will, the two said in a statement, use any proceeds beyond legal fees and expenses “to support progressive causes and citizen journalists and bloggers who are active in support of those causes.”
“How noble,” Huffington and Lerer replied.
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Comments (64)
vonryansexpress
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 1:31amshould read ” … one could easily associate with a plagerist fraudfeasor.”
Report Post »LEGION
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 1:28amHey the lefty commie socialists want to re-distribute everything-share and share alike. All for one and all for the demonrat marxists. What’s yours is mine and what is mine is mine.
Report Post »blacksmith
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 5:03amThey only want to share our wealth, not their own, even with each other.
Report Post »vonryansexpress
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 1:14amThese allegations come a bit late in the day to be sure.
However, Arianna Huffington has been accused of plagerism repeatedly and these charges are the sort of fraudulent mental purpose that one could easily associated with a plagerist fraudfeasor. The predicate of Intellectual Property theft is the same as found in the plagerist … the intent to accquire, claim and use the work of others for your own purposes.
Huffington’s character is squirrely enough to have been associated with this type of theft. Fraud and misrepresentaion seem to exude from her. She’s never been consistant or sincere and that farce marriage for money was the sort of fraud that gets others deported. Her entire life is a ladder climb on the work or lives of others.
Strange brew here.
Report Post »HUGGINGMYBABIES
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 12:57amStealing for profit, how very Capitalistic of the Socialist Socialite! Let the cannibalism begin…….wait, I don’t have my beer and popcorn! Okay now start!
Report Post »J.C. McGlynn
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 1:54pmI just bought Steiner military binoculars (10X50). Would you like to borrow them to closer look?
Report Post »HUGGINGMYBABIES
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 12:51amSome times when you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas. Hardly a website worth suing over!
Report Post »WhatTheHuh
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 12:28amI don’t get this lawsuit. What exactly was their great “idea”? A website/blog that’s like a newspaper? Uh, that’s not too original, and I hardly think they were the first to think of it.
As for the left, they’re imploding all over the place. It’s getting ugly. I can only imagine what it will be like in 2012 when a Republican wins the White House. Can you imagine if it’s Sarah Palin?!
Report Post »Locust
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 12:22amPretty funny there was a lifelock commercial in the center of the article HAHA! Talk about irony I don’t know if it was on purpose but pretty funny. Right on.
Report Post »BetterDays
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 11:43pmwhen I saw this, I copy and pasted it to the Blaze without delay (as I’m sure a hundred thousand others did as well), I couldn’t stop laughing at the thought of a socialist being sued by socialists.
Report Post »Quasimofo
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 11:41pmROFL The libs whole world is crumbling around them as they fight for any leftover morsel they can find!!!
Report Post »Sharon
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 11:26pmWe The People people know that George Soros has a hand in Huff Po! I won’t be reading anything they write!
Report Post »242355
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 11:24pmAny chance AH and GO have close, interpersonal relations? Married? Only with a pre-nup!
Report Post »babysealclubber
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:44pmShe probably didn’t “steal” any ideas from those 2 consultants, she just “redistributed” them evenly.
Report Post »HUGGINGMYBABIES
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 12:52amAll things being equal :)
Report Post »J.C. McGlynn
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:44pmThese two must feel like they just went through airport security.
Report Post »darski
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:36pmIt would be very funny if they had to call in Breitbart as a witness
Report Post »Conserving Ink
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:29pm“The wonderful thing about a conspiracy is you can trust everyone to trust no one.” – Simon & Simon
Everything is a double cross and a fraud with these people. If you can’t believe anything they say you have to wonder if they actually believe anything they claim to hold dear.
Report Post »_________________________________________________________
http://conserving-ink.blogspot.com/
Psychosis
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:23pmWELL according to the socialist utopia they are pushing themselves, intellectual property belongs to the people, not the individual, so it actually belongs to the government………..how you like those apples little miss huff n puff lol
Report Post »HouseNegro
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:10pmSo let me get this straight. She stole their crap website and they want their crap website back. These people are killing me. And they breed un-controllably. Someone call the CDC………
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 12:30amHow about pest control instead.
Report Post »dontbotherme
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:10pmI seriously don’t care. You become who you associate with.
Report Post »ensemble
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:09pmArianna Huffington just follows trends. I remember when her hubby got waxed and then she was a conservative under the first term of Bush, then when the tides changed she went back to being a lib..she is just in it for the spotlight and in it for the money..lib, then conservative, then back to lib. She doesn’t have any standards, she just goes any way the wind blows.
Report Post »EAGLEMOM
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:06pmWell if you lye with dogs….your going to get bit!
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 6:37amOr get fleas!
Report Post »oldasdirt
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:03pmLet the eating of their own begin.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 12:23amFun to watch … isn’t it! ROFL
Report Post »peezee
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 9:55pmProgressives are petty, ugly people. They thoroughly disgust me.
Report Post »behonest
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 9:55pmIt sounds like the progressives are eating their young, Arianna sounds more like a Liberal democrat than a progressive/socialist lately. She seems to be questioning the Far Left progressives more and more. That is a NO NO.
Report Post »teahugger
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 9:50pmHopefully the truth will come out in the trial.
Report Post »MAULEMALL
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 6:58amEff em…..Huffie did some puffie and screwed her “Bizzaro” a ss into some money….
And the 2 liberal douches don’t really need the money,,, They are gonna give it to “progressive causes”
They have officially become White trash..
Report Post »Bigrod58
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 9:48pmNo honor among thieves. tsk tsk
Report Post »TruthTalker
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 9:51pmLet the lying begin!
Report Post »A1955Rosie
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 9:54pmright…live by the sword, die by the sword. As a t person, you become so desensitized by their words. I wonder what these guys think of her words.
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:10pmBill Gates stole all my ideas, so I know how they feel
snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:15pmHow true, and now let the dueling and character assassinations commence in style. It is always so nice to see such (sarcasm intentional) “friendly, and wonderfully honorable people agree to conduct such manners over a merest of handshakes and expectations to be fulfilled to the fullest spirit of mutual co-operation and trust…”
Yeah Right!!!
Report Post »Blazergirl
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:17pmProgressive Opportunist! :) They must have gotten wind that the Huffy Puffy Post was backed by the infamous Billionaire “Spooky Dude” George Soros. The word is out Arianna. Better tell George to pull out his checkbook.:) I’m sure there will be more to come. Remember there is no Honor among thieves.
Report Post »I love it!!!! AHAHHHAHHHHAHHH.
123gone
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 10:28pmCan you believe it…two Socialists fighting over a Capitalistic concept of free enterprise !!
elfinmagic75
Posted on November 15, 2010 at 11:55pmI wouldn’t put it past them that they are trying to build on the popularity of the facebook story. I wouldn’t doubt that this is a publicity stunt to boost subscribers. I am sure all the progressives out there are already subscribed though so probably won’t work.
Report Post »HKS
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 12:14amWould this be a capitalistic tactic? From a commie? I thought they hated capitalist. Or is this a what’s yours is mine approach? I guess you just can’t trust a handshake anymore.
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 12:29am@HKS
Unfortunately not all communists are stupid. Just morally bankrupt and such, but not always stupid.
Report Post »thepatriotdave
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 1:11amMunch munch munch, I love it when they eat their own!
PatriotShops.com
Report Post »Robert W
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 4:15amSomebody had a Clairol coupon.
Report Post »Eddies_Grandma
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 10:04pmArianna must be all we weed up at the thought of redistribution of her wealth.
Report Post »