We wrote about Montreal, Canada based MediaScrape last month when they announced a $3.2 million round of financing. In the post, Duncan noted some inconsistencies in their funding announcements and questioned their claim to be a “leading online broadcast news network.” Some of the comments to the post were also a bit harsh on the company and founder.
Founder Tyler Cavell isn’t happy with the post, and isn’t satisfied simply using the comments, or his own blog, to get his message out. While normally we’d simply ignore this kind of rant, Tyler used the magic words in his email to us: “we are prepared to take legal action.” Our standing policy on legal threats is simple. We publish them.
Here’s the email:
To whom it may concern:
MediaScrape would like to have the ability to reply to the awful comments written about me personally and our site on TechCrunch. Why is there no ability for us to reply to the incorrect posts?
The post is ridiculous, poorly written, not researched (we were never contacted) and we are prepared to take legal action. Our investors inlcude the CEOs of leading banks and media companies. They are advising us on possible next steps in terms of legal action.
Regards,
Tyler
If we thought we’d done something wrong, we’d fix it. In this case our post was more than fair. And we’ve had idle legal threats from much scarier companies than MediaScrape before (a complete list: YouTube, Marvel, Rivals and my personal favorite, Richard Figueroa) and this is no way to build credibility. If you have something to say, Tyler, put it in the comments and we’ll add it to this post. Otherwise, enjoy this last post about your company on TechCrunch, at least until it goes into the deadpool.
Update: Our hero responds in the comments below, and rescinds his threat to take legal action. He also takes a short detour to trash his “Quebec Senior high school drop-out, former cocaine-addict, delusional cousin.” I’m sure he’ll feel much better now. Your investors must be so proud.
Haha nice, I hate it when companies blatantly lie. What in the world wouid they take legal action over anyway. Nothing was said but the truth.
http://pixblix.com
Ha, ha! Better be careful they will put a contract out on all of us! LOL
Reminds me of this guy: http://philly.m...owner/1484.html
What a baby. Was he to scared to respond in the last post? Anyone can comment or rebuke what the post said; including him. What a bitch. Someone needs to sue them on false advertising with that tagline. If it wasn’t for Techcrunch I’d never have heard of them.
Gotta love it. It’s amazing to me that a company can exist in this day and age where the RIAA sends 50,000 lawsuits a year, there are constant takedown notices on YouTube, and blogs everywhere expose the ridiculous lawsuits they get threatened with, and still think an idle threat of “Legal Action is Coming!” would scare off anyone…
It always ends bad, it’s surprising no one seems to learn that lesson…
Wow… some companies only want attention… like Zane said… “Nothing was said but the truth.”
Yikes, they had a typo, while calling something else poorly written… oops!
Ha I love when you post these notices.
Tyler of course you have every right to respond, but this is the worst way to do it. Take it to the comments or your own blog, if anyone cares they’ll take notice.
Your methods seem as antiquated as the newsources your product streams.
Good grief. They need something better to do with their time.
Maybe Tyler is being a dolt in the way he’s handling this but here’s an important question…did Duncan Riley ever take the time to contact MediaScrape to get clarification on the oddities he saw?
If you want to play investigative journalist you need to act like one.
This is a further example of how Michael Arrington does not write an objective news based site, but rather, promotes his buddies in Silicon Valley. Its absolutely offensive that Time Magazine could buy into this kind of sham, and even consider putting him on or near the same level as some of his colleagues in the top 100. The TC Crew is starting to look more and more like the Whack Pack of Howard Stern – Where’s Artie? At least he is funny.
hmmm raised $3.2 million and they want to blow it all on lawyers and legal fees?
*puts ear to the ground*
Yep, sounds like a stampede of investors running away… me thinks deadpool in 5…4…3…2…1…
“does not write an objective news based site”
you got that part right at least. subjective and proud of it.
Wow…just checked out their site… definitely looks like a mashup of the BBC and CNN homepages.
Better raise more $$ to hire a design firm.
lmao @ Richard F. incident… that was flipping classic! “The Google”
So is the easiest way how to get Techcrunched to just send an email with a threat of legal action?
This company is hurting….having struggled to create a differentiated news offering in a crowded online space. The CEO’s fundamental lack of any technical knowledge is a real weakness of the company and has led to many of their decisions. The branding initiative around Nuvu.tv was also another failed effort – deadpool is approaching i’m afraid.
“The post is ridiculous, poorly written, not researched…..”
Clearly, this is their first visit to TC, otherwise they would know what to expect.
haha, well now go figure that if a company cannot take a simple and honest write up then they def. need to get out of the Web 2.0 bubble. The best thing about the WWW is that not only will someone write about the site but others will simply spread the word in their own right.
In otherwords either deal with it and correct the issue or get over it and move on simple as that.
Keep up the good work Michael
So by subjective clearly you mean “I will cover my CEO buddies, clients my VC friends invest in, and companies who empoy hot publicist to hang all over you at parties.”
Your site features reviews; obviously the content of each post will be subjective. The lack of objectivity I was refering to is in the choice of what companies to even consider reviewing.
My company shouldn’t have to be based in the Valley, with a hot PR rep in your face at every networking function, for you to even look at my pitch. If my company sucks, then fine, but if you claim to cover the creme de la creme of Web2.0, you have to consider that someone that you don’t know, nay, someone who hasn’t bought you a drink, may have an idea worth writing about.
Blacklisting a company based on – what I will concede is inappropriate behaivor by their CEO – not only punishes him, but punishes every employee that put their faith in that idea. You are playing with people’s lives, people who work for minimal salaries and don’t have your cache of funds in the event that this company goes south. This is all they have.
@#16 good luck with that strategy… hehehe.
Though I’ve noticed that, by and large, the top bloggers like Mike tend to let it pass if you come here kissing ass and echoing/agreeing what he’s already said… it’s the people who start up an argument with him that get all the attention. (But I’ve seen/heard the guy argue… I am not prepared to be on the business end of that ass whooping, hehehe… are you?) if I thought he was wrong about something I might argue or at least voice dissent… but I don’t find myself disagreeing with him very often.
It is not a matter of having more ‘badass; lawyers – you are harming other Human Beings and their livlihood, their dreams!
How can you possibly be so self absorbed as to not have any empathy for others.
They have every right to protest; if you don’t even bother to contact others before writing a critique in what has become the WSJ of tech blogs – what can you expect them to do.
They are trying to survive in a harsh world.
You have a responsibility – now that the blog has grown – to contact others and post their rebuttals – WITHOUT taking it personally.
Just ask yourself: how would you feel if you were in their shoes.
Don’t be so self centered
Wow… listen to yourselves. How is Mike responsible for a company being a chewed up clump of shit?
Don’t blame the messenger people.
@Michael
Subjectivity and accuracy aren’t mutually exclusive.
You can report accurately on the news while still stating your opinions on it. The problem TC has of late is that the quality of the writing is often poor and it’s hard to determine where the news ends and your opinion begins. You and your writers often fail to make that distinction and instead present opinion as fact.
@Michael
Subjectivity and accuracy aren’t mutually exclusive.
You can report accurately on the news while still stating your opinions on it. The problem TC has of late is that the quality of the writing is often poor and it’s hard to determine where the news ends and your opinion begins. You and your writers often fail to make that distinction and instead present opinion as fact.
looking a the site makes my eyes bleed, and i don’t see any technology innovation at all. who are these investors?!?! sheesh
hahaha!
My respect for Arrington grows each time this happens.
Why do they care what people said about them? If a few bad news articles and blog posts are going to harm their business, they might need to rethink if they’re really doing something of value.
They should read the TechCrunch PR management post we had a few days ago.
ROFL! What a tool! They obviously don’t have a good product to put that money to use.
@Mr. Cavell. By threatening to sue a blog, it shows how out of touch you and your investors really are with the community. Do your fighting with a kick ass product instead of empty threats.
@Mr. Arrington. “Otherwise, enjoy this last post about your company on TechCrunch, at least until it goes into the deadpool.” Now you are just being mean and classless.
Wow… Arrington… Beautiful post. It’s exactly this kind of post that has contributed so mightily to the success and strength of Techcrunch as a whole. We want your subjectivity. That is what makes the site valuable!
Sorry SearcH and Allison but your pleas to consider the lives of the people who believe in companies, etc. are not well founded. Employees take their lives in their hands with they sign on with a firm. Quite frankly the executive team’s ability to sail the shark-infested waters of PR is one of their most important skills. The moral here isn’t that Techcrunch should change now that it has a huge readership. The moral is PEOPLE SHOULDN’T WORK FOR COMPANIES WITH BS LEADERSHIP. A corollary to that is if you happen to start a company… figure PR out, hire someone, or be ready to stub your toes a lot. (And don’t take funding for a product that is an also-ran before it starts.)
If this Canadian company were so great the BDC would have helped them.
They have helped far lesser companies with public monies.
You have to remember Canada is socialist so their investment capital is funded by public tax money underwritten by the Queen “her majesty” of Canada.
cc: on @32
http://laws.jus...c/cs/B-9.9///en
“23. (1) The authorized capital of the Bank consists of an unlimited number of common shares with a par value of $100 each and an unlimited number of preferred shares without par value, but the paid-in capital of the Bank, together with any contributed surplus relating to it and any proceeds referred to in paragraph 30(2)(d) that have been prescribed as equity, must not at any time exceed $1.5 billion.”
That’s 1.5 Billion of ordinary people’s tax money, given by the queen.
“Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:”
It’s not that hard to get either if you have millions in investment already.
The fact that they did not help on this venture says a lot. Esp in Montreal
This type of company would normally have BDC investment as part of the capital I think.
While I am a fan as well as a daily reader of TechCrunch, I gotta agree with Mr. Hertz about reporting accurate details, otherwise you risk becoming the blog version of the tabloids. When that happens, I will leave as will many others. Ducan’s new site appears to be headed in that direction already. However, don’t worry, plenty of morons read the tabloids so they could become your new reader base.
Arrington is my hero
Dear TechCrunch,
Please write about my new startup. If you do not, I am prepared to take legal action.
cc on @32 and @33,
The BDC and other similar entities in the govt of Canada are the main reason that every venture in Canada including RIM resembles a gigantic welfare project.
Canada is for the birds, the drunks and the severe potheads.
What astonishes me is that the CEO’s and/or lawyers (generally young associates) who keep the stream of letters to TechCrunch coming never seem to perform enough pre-threat “due diligence” (that’s lawyer-speak for doing your homework) to find out that that a) Michael posts the letters and b) even if TechCrunch doesn’t employ some kind of outside counsel, the founder is himself a member of the Bar and perfectly capable of responding to threats in kind…
Michael, maybe you should highlight those facts in TechCrunch’s contact information.
Ahah. I loved the end of the post.
Go Mike.
Richard Hertz/ Mike Hunt (24/25) – you should pick one fake name and stick with it. and then the follow up comments agreeing with yourself need to go through different IP addresses. Keep trolling, you’ll get the hang of it.
Mike, your blog is in the United States, specifically California.
The jurisdiction is here, not there. They can’t use their crazy defamation laws against you.
French Canadians are little hitlers. I hope you legally beat the crap out of them. That should teach them for law 101 and their other racist BS.
Screw them, Go Mike!!!
I’m totally on your side.
They couldn’t write software if it wrote itself.
if … then, c’est quoi ca, tu veux dire que on a pas de version francophone??
On va to court mon ami, to courrrrttt…. On vas apprendre aux Americains to make the if …. then to our Franch liking!!!
I hope they go out of business.
@ #20 Allison Shumar
>> My company shouldn’t have to be based in the Valley, with a hot PR rep in your face at every networking function, for you to even look at my pitch. If my company sucks, then fine, but if you claim to cover the creme de la creme of Web2.0, you have to consider that someone that you don’t know, nay, someone who hasn’t bought you a drink, may have an idea worth writing about. <<
Actually, that’s pretty much how PR works when you have a no-name company. If you are Google, then you might get attention, but here, just like in most other areas of your life Allison — no one really gives a shit about your “ideas”.
Well played.
The racism here is very much uncalled for, do us Canadians really need to bring up the mistakes American companies have made and then assume that all other Americans are the exact same?
Wow… 42 comments already and none from Tyler yet? Ladies, if you want to have a trouble-free life, avoid guys named Tyler, Justin, or Shawn (both spellings). I’ve been saying this for 20 years and have yet to meet a guy named any of those names who wasn’t either a spoiled brat or a total dweeb.
I don’t know why he got so crazy about that post. The comments DO seem to be closed on that old post, even though there are only 11 on it (a small number by T/C standards). Maybe he just wanted to comment again on that thread and couldn’t do it because the comments were closed? Or at least they seem to be due to the absence of a comment box, but there’s no typical warning saying they’ve been closed. Or an offer to continue the conversation in the Forums – although I’ve never visited the Forums since that just seems so 90’s.
Of course, he did post one comment there (#6) which looks just like a dorky plug to expand his business, almost as if he hadn’t read the actual critique. Weird.
Still, why didn’t he just post his own scathing review of T/C’s review on his own blog on MediaScrape? Granted, I couldn’t find a blog there amongst all the Google AdSense, but maybe it’s hidden.
It’s a shame really because if he wasn’t so prideful, he could reach out and get some help and make something of that HTML 4 / ASP site before it’s too late.
All this back and forth has distracted us from the real topic of interest: Cavell, Cavell, Cavell. A man/boy of unfathomable shallowness of character and intellect. Not even a strenously ‘hands-on’ Selwyn House education could prepare him for the rigours of life outside of the gilded cage.
Thank the powers that be (i.e. his father’s well placed freinds) that Cavell has been handed a web-site to play with. Imagine the damage he could inflict on an innocent customer at McDonald’s if he was charged with operating the deep fryer.
Peter – racism? how’d we take that left turn?
As of the guys up in Montreal, come on guys! Why spending money on legal actions when you can fix things for free (posting comments, etc).
About Michael’s post, I sense bit of contradiction and arrogance:
First, you said you usually ignore this rant. Then you advised Taylor to put in comment …and the whole tone of the post…a bit of arrogance “I survived legal threat from likes of YouTube, and who are you?”..na man, I personally don’t like to see our Michael this way.
Is this new found attitude result of Time 100 list?
@20 / Allison:
When we got techcrunched I was on the opposite coast having never visited California and with no contacts in the Valley.
I am all for the little guy. And techcrunch has its weaknesses…not covering small startups isn’t one of them, though.
oh come on mediascope, we all know legal action is a plea for help