There is just no way to argue that TechCrunch is not the joint owner of all intellectual property of the CrunchPad, and outright owner of the CrunchPad trademark.
The trademark for "CrunchPad" was filed on November 17, 2009. It's registered under Interserve, Inc. doing business as TechCrunch (apologies if the link goes dead - sometimes they use weird sessions on USPTO.gov):
"Interserve, Inc. doing business as TechCrunch" - the phrase "doing business as" (aka "dba") is a legal term, technically known as an assumed name. This means TechCrunch is Interserve and thus owns the trademark.
The trademark for "CrunchPad" was filed on November 17, 2009. It's registered under Interserve, Inc. doing business as TechCrunch (apologies if the link goes dead - sometimes they use weird sessions on USPTO.gov):
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4002:t9...