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Monday, November 15, 2010

Calacanis Pits LAUNCH Conference Against TechCrunch Disrupt

Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Mahalo.com, has ramped up his competition with former business partner Michael Arrington, saying this morning he is launching a competing startup launch conference called the LAUNCH Conference. Calacanis--who is in the midst of a lawsuit with Arrington over their soured joint venture, TechCrunch50--said the new event will take place on February 23rd and 24th. Calacanis, who revealed the plans for the conference in his personal email list, said the event will focus on being the "most affordable, high-end technology event in the world."

Calacanis is in the process of suing Arrington over the sale of TechCrunch and its corresponding new conference, TechCrunch Disrupt. Calacanis, in his email, said "Mike took TechCrunch50 and re-branded it as TechCrunch Disrupt, and a valuable property I created and owned half of became part of a sale to Aol. When I work on a business and create lots of value, it's just simple fairness that I would be recognized when it is sold."