B
brendy
Audioholic
At least now everybody knows why their prices are so inflated. Someone has to pay the lawyers fees for all of the lawsuits.
"Let our rigorous testing and reviews be your guidelines to A/V equipment – not marketing slogans"
mtrycrafts
Seriously, I have no life.
Boy, that is a most impressive website, especially the example of Monster. biz
That apparently won their case, Monster Cable apologized and paid their attorney's fees.
Maybe MMG needs to read that example.
It is most obvious what MC is all about, a monster of a BULLY.
mtrycrafts
Seriously, I have no life.
Don't settle on anything less than a victory
Did you see this place?
http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/HallOfShame/MonsterCable/MonsterCable.shtml
Of note is Monster.biz
Monster cable lost that fight, apologized and paid their legal fees
So, it is winnable
mike c
Audioholic Warlord
re: energizer articleDon't settle on anything less than a victory
Did you see this place?
http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/HallOfShame/MonsterCable/MonsterCable.shtml
Of note is Monster.biz
Monster cable lost that fight, apologized and paid their legal fees
i'm wondering why nobody has filed false advertisement claims against monster for their cables? makes your music sound better?
'airborne' anyone?
i assume anybody there can file a complaint with the appropriate government agency to remove the very misleading advertisements of monster cable. let's see if they can sell an overpriced cable without the 'makes your audio or video better' lies.
M
MonsterMiniGolf
Junior Audioholic
MC,
STILL WAITING FOR AN ANSWER.......We have extended an olive branch based on YOUR WORDS, and given you an opportunity to step up to the plate and show the world that you are actually human beings.
While there are several steps to reaching peace, crossing this bridge could be the first step toward resolution with us, as well as the first step to restoring your public image, which I can only imagine you'd want to do.
This is a simple tit-for-tat, as they say, and not tied to a bunch other provisions. We'll do this one step at a time.
So will you take this first step? The whole world is watching, what's it going to be....
Yes or No?
-Patrick and Christina Vitagliano
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Cpt.America
Full Audioholic
Somehow I doubt it....
J
jamie2112
Banned
Now that you have some momentum lets not stop this time. I am taking this everywhere in my industry and I hope people keep spreading the word about these idiots.
M
MonsterMiniGolf
Junior Audioholic
Channel 10
Channel 10 showed up yesterday in New Port Richey, Florida and did a nice interview with the owner of that Monster Mini Golf location. It aired last night at 11am.
Here's the link if you'd like to watch or comment.
http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=96289
Channel 10 showed up yesterday in New Port Richey, Florida and did a nice interview with the owner of that Monster Mini Golf location. It aired last night at 11am.
Here's the link if you'd like to watch or comment.
http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=96289
jinjuku
Moderator
That was a great snippet...
E
EJ1
Audioholic Chief
We need one thread!
R
Ray Kimber
Audioholic Intern
Dear Jamie,
I am pasting below a letter that I posted in 2005. Thank you Jamie for taking a stand against bad behavior that could tarnish an entire industry segment.
Ray
Here is the Audio Asylum posting from 2005 (slightly edited to fit the size limit on Audioholics):
Posted by Ray Kimber (M) on January 01, 2005 at 10:48:03
Dear All,
There have been some murmurs that my opposition and criticism of Monster Cable is self serving. I would like to respond and give a more complete reason and response for my opposition to Monster Cable
I didn't jump to any conclusions about Monster Cable's behavior toward Snow Monsters until after I had called and talked to both parties, and challenged them both. The result was that I looked at postings of "real" documents on the web that, in my opinion, leave Monster Cable trying to now float a public relations “cover story” that is increasingly difficult for anyone to swallow.
I wonder how many who are reading this will have seen the 1999 article from Forbes Magazine? (If not, send me your mailing address by private email and I will send you one, it is copyrighted, so it shouldn’t be PDF’d but I have some authorized reprints from Forbes) In it, Kimber Kable and Straight Wire were both splattered by the same paint as Monster Cable. While the article was from a few years ago, it is STILL being referenced by current postings and I recently had a reporter call me, out of the blue, regarding the re-naming of Candlestick Park, due to the linking of Kimber Kable and Monster Cable in the Forbes article.
Since my name and company and industry continue to be linked to Monster Cable I have an interest in what is being said, along with worry of how all AV cable companies might be tarnished by industry association with Monster Cable. The Snow Monsters issue came to my attention via someone who thought we and Monster Cable were the same thing! Until a few days ago I didn’t have ANY knowledge of the very existence of Monster Vintage, The Sesame Street Monster Workshop or Monster Away. Nor did it EVER cross my mind that Monster Garage, Monsters Inc, Monster.com or Monster Trucks had anything to do with each other OR with Monster Cable. Certainly I didn’t form negative opinions about any of the above entities by name association with each other, or mistake one for the other
There are many, no, make that VERY many things that Noel as a person and Monster Cable as a company have accomplished in a very positive way, but..., now I have both heartbreak and heartburn over what is happening, I don't understand, Noel's/Monster Cable’s tactics, it "looks" bad and I worry that folks will decide that the whole darn specialty cable business is the same. Monster Cable is, by my reckoning, larger than ALL of us competitors COMBINED! That gives Noel a "bully pulpit", but his apparent behavior as a bully is doing terrible harm to him, his company and my/our industry.
Monster Cable makes some great products, no question and no argument from me. But HOW they are selling them pisses me off, not because it cuts into Kimber Kable sales, it doesn't (explained below). It pisses me off because I think it is just flat wrong. One example: Using the driving of Noel's sports cars as an incentive to sell more Monster Cable. The result has been two-fold. More cable was sold. And! There were folks who likely had NEVER driven a high performance car that were turned loose in an unfamiliar car, on unfamiliar PUBLIC roads with a "just met" MC employee as co-pilot/chaperone. I hope/suppose that there were “ground rules”, but sheesh! what could anyone expect?, that these sales folks were motivated to sell more Monster Cable with the goal of driving a dream performance car like Aunt Mable drives her Buick? Uh huh?!? Well, the Forbes article talks about an incident that went wrong, very wrong. When does a sales incentive, by amount and extent, go from "compensating" to "corrupting"?
The reason that Monster Cable doesn't much compete with Kimber Kable is that we don't sell in the same stores, and wouldn't even try. The folks that go to Radio Shack (now selling Monster Cable, BTW) to buy a VCR don't need, and don't deserve to be pitched on, special wire of any kind. That customer’s needs and expectations are COMPLETELY met with ordinary products. If the compensation and pressure to sell that customer "special wires" is high enough then sales WILL certainly be made. But I won't pay that extent of incentive AND won't apply that kind of pressure to Kimber Kable dealers to make THAT kind of sale. I wouldn't be able to explain such sales to my mom and I wouldn't want such sales methods directed at my mom.
My anger and opposition to Monster Cable has nuthin' to do with Monster Cable products and everything to do with how pissed I am at overselling and the corrupting influence of incentives and pressure that are WAY WAY WAY out of proportion. Not to mention the ridiculous trademark actions. You don’t see Mother’s Car Wax going after Mother Teresa, now do ya?
Most electronics consumers don't need fancy cables, mine or anyone else’s!!! It is only when the natural interest and knowledge of the consumer correlates with equipment that will compliment the fancy cable that such a sale should be considered. The rewards and pressure to sell Monster Cable are evidently so high as to override the good sense of the seller as to which customer REALLY should be EVER be pitched.
I have NEVER!!! bought a power protection bar, Monster Cable’s or otherwise to go with my consumer electronics hardware purchases. My knowledge of the usual good power line quality and that hardware (even the cheap stuff) is pretty resilient to a little power junk AND!
my knowledge that if I REALLY TRULY did need some protection that I couldn't buy it for $100.00
makes me NOT a target for such sales. It IS nice that if I buy a Belkin or Panamax bar that some protection is built-in at a price that is fine for just the extra outlets. I have the knowledge that if I'm buying a $199.00 VCR I won't gain (and shouldn't expect) any useful increase in performance from any power bar or fancy cables. Without that knowledge I don’t want to be a target, like an unaware fish, to be hooked with some bait.
I don't like the idea of having my family and friends sold something/anything because they didn't know enough to form a sensible purchase decision. I don't want any Kimber Kable dealer to make such a sale of my product. I would be kidding myself if I laid out huge incentives to sell Kimber Kable and then imagined that ONLY folks who understood and appreciated fancy cables would be sold Uh Huh ?!? Well, EVERY customer is someone’s friend or family, they deserve to be treated as such.
So, will a boycott of Monster Cable shift all those sales to Kimber Kable, nope! What would/should happen is that just-as-good-for-the-application less expensive product, like Belkin, Panamax, WestPenn or Carol, will be sold instead, at a much lower price. AND by eliminating the high pressure and high rewards the sales will drop to levels that more closely match the needs and expectations of the customer. So a boycott of Monster Cable, in my opinion, won't and shouldn't shift “real” sales to me or any other fancy cable company. What it will do is STOP the over-selling of, albeit fine, products.
If Monster Cable's tactics are as bad as they appear regarding Snow Monsters, Monster Vintage and Monster Away, then I think they should stop it now AND go back and un-do some stuff, give back previous arm-twisted trademarks and agreements, and make amends to all others that were beat up. (BTW, Monster Away was a water pistol to be sold to children so they could give a little Monster Away squirt under the bed before they went to sleep. Monster Cable opposed the trademark application?!? I looked at the list of actions in the Trademark office, seems to me like Monster Cable just flat wore them out of money and/or will and/or spirit)
Noel/Monster Cable seems not to have learned much from the damning 1998 Forbes article (which is why it should be read, so history is not repeated). It won't be enough for me to just have Monster Cable just say "sorry" to Snow Monsters, because I truly believe that they will just continue on their merry way and view an occasional "sorry" as a cost of business. I want to see a "righting" of past "wrongs" and a removal of either Monster Cable's will or means to mount future over-reaching sales tactics and over-reaching trademark tactics.
So, I am going to ask Monster Cable folks some questions. I have already sent Dave Tognotti (Monster Cable’s Attorney) an email on 12/28/2004, no answer yet.
I am super uncomfortable with taking a stand against Monster Cable, not my style, and it would be perfectly logical for someone to view my opposition as self serving. But I can’t stand by quietly any longer.
It sucks that good products need to boycotted in order to stop the overselling and to choke off the profits that finance attacks on Snow Monsters and such.
My bottom line and sincere opinion is; I want to see Monster Cable stop the hurtful damage they are doing, apologize and make amends, and correct past similar situations.
Kind regards,
Ray Kimber
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M
MonsterMiniGolf
Junior Audioholic
New Victim
Just met a brand new monster biz over on the gearslutz board, who was recently granted his trademark, but just got his notice of opposition from MC.
I've sent him to some sites to get educated, and encouraged him to join our alliance.
I you get a chance, stop over to the gearslutz board and let him know he's among friends. Another company on board now would be great. Timing is good as we prepare for CES.
Patrick
Just met a brand new monster biz over on the gearslutz board, who was recently granted his trademark, but just got his notice of opposition from MC.
I've sent him to some sites to get educated, and encouraged him to join our alliance.
I you get a chance, stop over to the gearslutz board and let him know he's among friends. Another company on board now would be great. Timing is good as we prepare for CES.
Patrick
mike c
Audioholic Warlord
sorry, i've been looking at the threads and couldn't imagine how to merge them
but i do support your cause and will be at CES, what do you have planned?
but i do support your cause and will be at CES, what do you have planned?
pzaur
Audioholic Samurai
I think whatever is planned should be kept secret and unveiled only at CES. This will keep Monster Cable uneasy.sorry, i've been looking at the threads and couldn't imagine how to merge them
but i do support your cause and will be at CES, what do you have planned?
-pat
mike c
Audioholic Warlord
i see. i'll just wait and see
F
fightthepower
Audiophyte
Statement from actual court transcript: of Monster Cable VS Monster Vintage
(this woman was physically disabled!!)
"You knew about our Mark."
"You're a Greedy and Lazy Person Miss West"
"You knew about our mark and you raced out there and tried to capitalize on it for your greedy, lazy purposes even though we spent all this time building the power of our mark in your used big women's clothing market!"
Yes, this was actually said by Monster Cable people in court.
(this woman was physically disabled!!)
"You knew about our Mark."
"You're a Greedy and Lazy Person Miss West"
"You knew about our mark and you raced out there and tried to capitalize on it for your greedy, lazy purposes even though we spent all this time building the power of our mark in your used big women's clothing market!"
Yes, this was actually said by Monster Cable people in court.
E
esross
Audiophyte
Hi there MonsterMiniGolf, this is Erik posting on behalf of Monster Cable. I responded to the fellows from "Creative Monster Productions" on Gearslutz. Unfortunately, because I'm a n00b here I can't share the link, but I've copied and pasted what I wrote there below my message:
"Hello Scrantch, Erik here writing on behalf of Monster Cable. I checked with our legal department and wanted to shed some light on this for you and the gang here.
First, Monster has not challenged this trademark, and we checked the USPTO records tonight ourselves to ensure that. Our law firm did file a "Request for Extension", a common procedure requesting that the USPTO provide Monster's attorneys additional time to review the application and research the company to determine if an opposition is warranted. Again, this is common and in no way puts the trademark application in jeopardy.
Also, although the "Creative Monster Production" trademark has not been awarded (according to the USPTO tonight), we have already decided to not pursue action here as we determined that use here is not an issue.
So, to clarify, we are not opposing your mark, and we have no intention of opposing you in future on this mark.
Please don't hesitate to contact us directly in future if you need information or clarification."
J
jamie2112
Banned
Too late for you all pal.....
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