Is Jason Calacanis riding on Leo Laporte and the TWiT networks coat tails?

I had conversations with Leo about the domain name thisweekin. Com and me starting This Week in Startups before I did either thing. He said I should go for it and that he wasn't interested in the domain.So, I did clear it with the boss.

:-) Also, there are sooooo many verticals and ways to name these shows that I think we will not be overlapping. My guess is we will grow from five to 10 or 15 shows a year from now. We will also have a sale force built out soon.

When that happens my hope is that when we get an advertiser/sponsor we could syndicate across both of our networks. Leo has said over and over that he doesn't own the This Week In... format and that he loves what I'm doing. If he had a problem with it I would certainly work it out with him.

Right now we're both building very experimental businesses and we're good friends who like working together. There really isn't more to it than that.

Of course Jason is riding Leo's Ass, because he is following the $$$$. Leo may not have exclusive rights to the naming scheme, but in my opinion he would win a court battle if he decides to take Jason to court over the matter. Leo has if nothing else, squatters rights to the naming scheme, and Jason as much as legally acknowledged Leo's squatters rights by approaching Leo to ask if he wouldn't mind if Jason were to create the This Week In Startups podcast.

Jason, is now the unsupervised greedy little kid in the candy store, and is stuffing his mouth, his cheeks, backpack, and pockets with all of Leo's candy. Leo should have kicked butt when Twitter emerged, and should hire barristers to defend his castle from pretenders to the throne, who are sneaking into the back door of the castle, and stealing his lunch! "TWI" is Leo's lifeblood and he is now suffering death by a thousand cuts.

Julius Caesar had Brutus, and Leo Laporte may yet have occasion to say of his friend "Et tu, Calacanis".

I don't believe Jason's answer. I remember hearing him talk all about the thisweekin. Com domain and he said it was going to be "a directory of all the This Week In shows from everybody".

He was very clear how it was just going be a directory, and all the TWiT shows that start with This Week In would be there as well as any other shows in the world that started with that phrase. I'm sure Leo had the same impression. Now, instead, it is the "This Week In" tech podcast network.

Not to be confused with the "This Week in Tech" podcast network. Sheesh! Now I look at the site and it looks like Jason's personal page, promoting his shows and not listing any other shows.

Where is This Week in Photography with Alex Lindsay? Or This Week in Barron's? Or This Week in YouTube?

To me it seems like he is acting like a third grader who has been caught doing something he knows is wrong but there's some loophole he can weasel through to avoid "being in trouble".

Jason is definitely riding on @leolaporte's tail! He's a lagtard. Since he desperately trys to employ poker jargon, we're sure he understands!

Never having been able to build a >30mill $ business, he keeps on building on the ideas of others. We're always wondering why these 250mill + people keep meeting him an equal grounds on his #twist show!

Jason has take advantage of Leo, one of techs greatest and a really great guy. Jason has taken advantage of Leo and Jason acts like he is surprised when Jason knows exactly what he did. Shame on you Jason and I wish Leo would take you to court.

Jason has never been asked back on the TWiT network and no one associated with TWiT wants to see him. We love Leo and the TWiT network and support Leo fully. Leo is a gracious, good man and Leo has put a good friendly face on tech for all the non-geeks out there and we geeks thank you for showing how good tech people are.

Jason has proven time after time to be a good business man but a non-existent entrepreneur. If you buy a MacDonald's Franchise and place it in a Walmart, you are not in my opinion an entrepreneur, you are a savvy business person. Here again, Jason is correct the market is wide open.

But to literally take the brand that Leo has built up and allow him to dilute it is not Jason's fault, it's Leo being extremely naive. Is Jason being a good friend? He may think so, but I would run from a friend that copies my IP so blatantly that search engines, iTunes,and all can't differentiate the two.

Also, Jason knows that Leo's Network has not hit main stream, so Jason could still own the brand despite Leo's being a first mover. If that happens and of course its exactly what he wants to do. Leo's work in TWIT will be for most purposes over.

When money is on the line, no one named Apple would allow an Apple Also inc to exist... Thus the answer to the question is not is Jason riding anyone's coat-tails. Its Jason who has seen a viable market, and is replicating it to the very noun and syllable of what Leo has done. This in my opinion is good business on some levels.My IP attorney would disagree here.

But that said, I think this move by Jason is cheap, gutless, and unimaginative. Why not name it anything... Gosh I don't know.. Mahalo TV Tech Edition, gosh why not build that Brand up... Oops he has TWITLIVE Podcasts at the bottom.. No Leo there... That service is useless BTW... Why else would anyone let a CEO do more projects? Does he have VC in a coma?

Please don't take gutless personally. He hates Facebook, Leo Leaves it but Jason "Amoral" Facebook guy stays.. What do you say about that kind of guy? Content Farming?

He's there too.. Check it out... Useless, uniformed, uneducated web spam? Jason's your guy... I am just waiting for the Porn... Come on Jason the water's warm.. And its great business, and I am sure Leo won't mind..

I love that. "Some shows". That's exactly the impression Calcanis gave me when I heard Calcanis asking Leo live on TWiT is he could do a this week in start ups, and I recall a couple others.

A couple is TWO. A small amount. Calcanis took complete advantage of Leo's generosity and abused it.

He should have asked him off air and given Leo time to think. He should have been more specific as Calcanis IMO was deliberately obtuse, based on what's now happened. It's completely wrong.

Calcanis has no ethics nor any morality.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.