Update 8:06 pm 25 Feb.- As anticipated in some quarters, the parties announced an agreement this evening, averting litigation.- Ed.

VNC at 2:39 p.m. Jan. 23, 2015 received the following comment from LaunchTN staff, in the wake of news of Pando Media having filed a petition alleging contract breach by LaunchTN, in U.S. District Court for Northern California (3:15cv-00318).

PandoMedia filed its petition yesterday, according to a document accompanying a PandoDaily story today.

VNC's earlier coverage of the ending of the previous LTN-Pando partnership and each party's future plans is located here.

Today's statement was provided by LaunchTN's Courtney Corlew, director of communications. This story will be updated, as warranted. [Corlew's title corrected.]

VNC has requested further comment from both parties, as feasible.

The full LaunchTN statement follows:

The lawsuit filed by Pando is baseless. Launch Tennessee is not
partnering with TechCrunch for 36|86. As we stated in our Jan. 6 press
release:

"Jonathan Shieber, Senior Editor at CrunchBase/TechCrunch, John Biggs,
East Coast Editor at TechCrunch and Regan Carrizales, CEO of Silicon
Prairie News have signed on to lead media interviews on stage at
36/86."

Jon Shieber, John Biggs and Regan Carrizales have committed to
participate as an interviewer/moderator, and that is the extent of
their involvement.

These interviewers will be present, along with a roster of other
luminaries from the startup world. Members of the press come to cover
important trends on startups, tech and culture in our region. To date,
we have extended complimentary press passes to Forbes, Silicon Prairie
News and TechCrunch, among others. We plan on extending more press
passes as we get closer to the highly anticipated conference.

Qualified media can request to attend for free through our web site.
We have no contracts for media partnerships. If you're interested in a
unique opportunity to interact with thought leaders, investors and
startups in the Southeast, join us June 8 at Marathon Music Works for
36|86. [###]