Today's grim news involves a start-up that's based in Singapore. On the crux of a major and likely successful worldwide launch of crunchpad, a web tablet that allows you to get online without an OS, Techcrunch partner, Fusion Garage pulled out of the deal, claiming they own the IP for the product.

See the full post at Techcrunch.

While Fusion Garage's side of the story has not been told, I cannot imagine how they will be able to combat the bad press they are already getting. Was it greed that led them to pull out of the partnership as Michael Arrington suggests?

Whatever the reason, there can be no good from now launching a product that has received so much bad press from an influential source in the entrepreneurship / tech scene. Fusion Garage must sure wish it were april now... That'll probably be the only way to turn the bad press into positive virality.

This reminds me a little of what Guy Kawasaki says. "First aim to make meaning in your start-up then make money". And boy... if we had TechCrunch as excited about our own platform... That's a relationship that will be a priority to maintain.

While entrepreneurship is also about learning from your mistakes... some mistakes... you can never recover from, especially if it brings your credibility into question.

On a final note: a common Silicon Valley quote seems applicable here. Company shares are like shit, in a pile it stinks, but when you spread it around... beautiful things grow.