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Monster cable filing multiple lawsuits...

#21
Mark Latimour said:
From what I can gather, Monster's brand predated all these "newcomers" that it is suing, so it would seem to have a legitimate right to enforce its brand.
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Yeah, but here's the rub; The use of the word "monster" to describe something massive, audacious, or extreme clearly predates their trademark. It was something already in the common lexicon of language.

They are simply greedy ********, and I'll NEVER buy any of their products, EVER. I don't care if no one else makes it, and I have to spend 3 hours soldering it from scratch. If someone GAVE me one of their cables, I'd destroy it with a hammer.
 
#24
could've sworn the "apple v. apple" suit established the precedent that these types of shenanigans wouldn't go on.

the court, afaik, decided that apple records had the right to the word "apple" in the context of a record company, and apple computers the right to the word in the context of computers and stuff.

a big " :rolleyes: " to all of this.
 
#25
tplyons said:
I'm sending Monster a nice long email. :)
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Done.

Dear sir or madam,

After once thinking your cables were of the utmost quality, I have since decided that despite a good product, your business model is poor, and you have lost another customer. Your recent legal action against many companies is appalling and petty. The word monster has been in existance for years, many before your company and taking legal action for the use of the word is entirely insulting.

Legal action against Disney, the Chicago Bears, and small companies who do not offer any sort of competition is the poorest excuse for "protecting a hard-earned image" and that an attempt to drive mom and pop shops out of business is corporate bullying. Monster may be your name, but in no way is it a word that you can call your own.

Who's next to sue? The following people and companies have publicly used the word monster: Sesame Street, Jonathan Kellerman (author), R.L. Stine (author of Goosebumps), the Boston Red Sox, Monster Magnet (band), the country of Scotland for their use of the phrase Lochness Monster, Metallica for their movie/soundtrack "Some Kind of Monster", Microsoft for their game "Monster Truck Madness", R.E.M. for their album "Monster", Steppenwolf for their album by the same title, etc.

I believe you are acting like monsters in this issue. Not always a good thing to be associated with this word, is it?

\m/ Timothy Lyons
 
#26
I went to Proco.com Those cables look interesting. Perhaps I'll purchase a couple, and relegate my Monsters to practice cables.

Actually, I was planning on doing that before I heard of this lawsuit, because it seems that 1 is already going bad. I take care of my cables-i.e, I don't rip them out, and throw them on the floor, or walk all over them-and I've only had them a couple of years.

I have a Fender cable that is 15 years old, and still works fine.

I had another no name brand about the same age-it finally let go a couple of weeks ago.

Ok, I'm sorry-I'll shut up now. :hiding:
 
#27
Beefbass said:
I went to Proco.com Those cables look interesting. Perhaps I'll purchase a couple, and relegate my Monsters to practice cables.

Actually, I was planning on doing that before I heard of this lawsuit, because it seems that 1 is already going bad. I take care of my cables-i.e, I don't rip them out, and throw them on the floor, or walk all over them-and I've only had them a couple of years.
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Lets see, I've completely switched over to Proco's because they are a lot softer, bend easier and don't trip me when I walk around on stage. Plus, they're not Monster, and they're super durable. I DO throw them on the ground, and walk all over them on a cement basement floor mind you, and after two years, they're still as good as new. Look a little uglier, but no problems! They're durable, softer, and as far as I'm concerned, they're not suing anyone for the use of the word Rat or Juggernaut.

Buy them from Sweetwater.com. They say Sweetwater on them, but since they have a deal, you pay less from Sweetwater for the same cable.
 
#30
Okay a little bit of googling has revealed a little bit more "truth" about what Monster Products Inc ("Monster") are doing. This may help alleviate some of the "hysteria" that is going on here.

1. Monster has a number of trademarks which involve the use of the word "Monster" registered for various things.

2. Failure to protect a trademark seems to be grounds for a trademark to be lost - see for example the use of the Fender Jbass design.

3. Monster have decided to agressively protect its trademark to ensure that it is able to continue to use the "Monster" brand without fear of competition from others if the trademarks were lost. If they did not protect their trademark, there would be a danger that a company like "Monster Guitars" could start up and Monster may not be able to do anything about it in the future.

4. They are going after business' which promote products with the "Monster" name in them. As far as I can tell these are mostly businesses online and other prominant uses of the name "Monster" which could potentially dillute the Monster brand. They are not going after every use of the word "monster" in novels, band names etc.

Now personally I think they are being a bit OTT, but if their legal advice has said this is the best / only way to adequately protect their brand, then it is what it is. If you had a business with a well established trademark, would you act to protect it if it was in danger or being lost?

Now I dont support Monster or their actions, but a but of level headedness about these things (perhaps Monster should have exercised some as well) can often reveal both sides of the story and lead to understanding as to why things are occuring.

Edit: I also noticed that, for example, one of the settlements for a stadium that had "Monster Seats" was that a number of seats be made available for charities to use at each game. Again, this indicates the kind of settlement that you would use only to evidence enforcement of your brand name rather than a penalty / injunction / damages award against the user (if you are trying to run others out of business).

$0.02
 
#31
Mark Latimour said:
I still love this story:
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That kid got it made though. Not sure if you read what happened to him, but Microsoft eventually thought it was funny and gave him all this free crap, including xbox gear and a private tour through some of microsoft's facilities (and even met big Bill himself IIRC). He also got scholarship money too, i think.
 
#36
Beretta firearms tried to sue Chevrolet over using the name "Beretta" for a car. Needless to say, the courts held that they were not in "related" areas of business and ruled in Chevrolet's favor.

Monster's corporate attitude sucks :spit: and thats enough for me. I guess I'll just have to replace my Monster speaker cable with a new Mogami one real soon.
 
#37
pierce said:
+1, but i thought it was "livewires". are you speaking of the ones that sound just as good as monster, are about a quarter of the price, and are usually in stock at gc?
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Bah I spelled it wrong. I was thinking of the file-sharing program and my cables at the same time. Yes, Livewire is what I meant. My speaker and instrument cables are holding up very well.
 
#38
Kelly Lee said:
Beretta firearms tried to sue Chevrolet over using the name "Beretta" for a car. Needless to say, the courts held that they were not in "related" areas of business and ruled in Chevrolet's favor.
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Huh... I never knew what became of that lawsuit. I just assumed Beretta won since I don't ever really see Berettas around. I think that had more validity than the Monster suit has. After all it's not like Beretta is a common word...does it even have a meaning in Italian or is it just a name? If it's just a name I'd have to think that they got the name straight from the gun.

brad cook
 

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