[pkmehta]

I think the comments by Matt Kaufman (president of Crunchbase) about the damage that can be caused by "Crunchbase replicas" reflect the knowledge on AOL's part that Crunchbase is a potentially very interesting data asset. And so the reality is that they'll prob revisit rights to Crunchbase, and it'll go from very open to something less so (how far is the question). I would also guess that Crunchbase has a paid subscription offering in the works.

I would also speculate that People+ may be the first "offender" Crunchbase will target. Datafox.co, Mattermark, Inkwire.io might all find themselves in the crosshairs.

This also underscores a common mistake developers make which is creating on someone else's platform where the rules can and will change significantly especially when monetization becomes important. And it seems monetization is on Crunchbase's mind.

Update:

This post on the Crunchbase blog articulates that monetization is coming and that the above "offenders" may be hearing from AOL counsel soon.

http://info.crunchbase.com/2013/11/05/crunchbase-people-and-...

"CrunchBase must remain open to anyone who wants to contribute, and retrieving that data for non-commercial benefit must remain open as well. That said, to invest in CrunchBase’s constant improvement requires building a business around CrunchBase in a way that successfully takes into account our terms of service and our openness."