Monster Cable is Back! Sues Mini-Golf Company

[jinjuku]

This is a quote from the public message Noel Lee sent out:

"I will say that this is a landmark kind of situation, as public opinion wins over what is the right thing to do for trademark protection of a famous mark. We have made the decision that public opinion, and that of our valued customers is more important than the letter of the law that requires us to prevent the dilution of our mark risk losing it"

So you are not really coming to the table in true contrition. You are actually saying: We cried uncle, even though we are right, because of mass public opinion. It happens that mass public opinion and most likely a court of law would have all lined up with one another.

Mr. Lee you are basically calling 10's if not 100's of thousands of tech savvy individuals idiots.

For the last time: YOU DON"T HAVE TO PROTECT YOUR TRADE MARK FROM NON INFRINGING USES. @(%*(!

Your an idiot for using a common word and then trying to brand it to exclusive use.

You're even more of an idiot for litigating people in unrelated industries that happen to use the word 'monster'. How you were smart enough to build the company you now have today is mind boggling.

 

[TLS Guy]

This is a quote from the public message Noel Lee sent out:

"I will say that this is a landmark kind of situation, as public opinion wins over what is the right thing to do for trademark protection of a famous mark. We have made the decision that public opinion, and that of our valued customers is more important than the letter of the law that requires us to prevent the dilution of our mark risk losing it"

So you are not really coming to the table in true contrition. You are actually saying: We cried uncle, even though we are right, because of mass public opinion. It happens that mass public opinion and most likely a court of law would have all lined up with one another.

Mr. Lee you are basically calling 10's if not 100's of thousands of tech savvy individuals idiots.

For the last time: YOU DON"T HAVE TO PROTECT YOUR TRADE MARK FROM NON INFRINGING USES. @(%*(!

Your an idiot for using a common word and then trying to brand it to exclusive use.

You're even more of an idiot for litigating people in unrelated industries that happen to use the word 'monster'. How you were smart enough to build the company you now have today is mind boggling.

Or his lawyers are guilty of professional malpractice for misrepresenting the issues to their client. Remember lawyers are skilled in the art of persuasion. May be they saw their chance and persuaded Noel Lee that it would be fatal to his business not to go along with their advice.

May be he should get new lawyers and sue his former lawyers for malpractice.

This whole episode could be explained on the basis of professional malpractice.

 

[majorloser]

Here is the story on NPR.

You can hear an interview with Christina and Noel.

The most interesting thing to me is that agreement was reached after both sides sent their lawyers packing! Talk about high priced make work projects.

Anyhow many congratulations to you both.

"Famous Mark" my butt!
Noel Lee just can't seem to face the music.

 

[NicolasKL]

This is a quote from the public message Noel Lee sent out:

"I will say that this is a landmark kind of situation, as public opinion wins over what is the right thing to do for trademark protection of a famous mark. We have made the decision that public opinion, and that of our valued customers is more important than the letter of the law that requires us to prevent the dilution of our mark risk losing it"

So you are not really coming to the table in true contrition. You are actually saying: We cried uncle, even though we are right, because of mass public opinion. It happens that mass public opinion and most likely a court of law would have all lined up with one another.

Mr. Lee you are basically calling 10's if not 100's of thousands of tech savvy individuals idiots.

For the last time: YOU DON"T HAVE TO PROTECT YOUR TRADE MARK FROM NON INFRINGING USES. @(%*(!

Your an idiot for using a common word and then trying to brand it to exclusive use.

You're even more of an idiot for litigating people in unrelated industries that happen to use the word 'monster'. How you were smart enough to build the company you now have today is mind boggling.

What a moron. How stupid can Noel Lee be? He's doing something because of public opinion but then he makes a statement like that, that is only going to make him look EVEN WORSE in the eyes of the public? Seriously, what is wrong with him?

Famous mark my ***.

It's not like I was going to buy his overpriced garbage to begin with but now I'll go even further to make sure no one I know EVER does.

 

[jamie2112]

The guy is a TOOL we all know this. The main thing here is MMG is getting all their money back and mc is leaving them alone. A little to late if you ask me as there has been a ton of damage done to mc now. Screw noel lee he can get bent. You and your company are worthless and I am continuing to spread the word to my industry.

 

[mtrycrafts]

... I am very pleased with the results of this campain..

Yes, but what a migraine headache to go through.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hi Eric,

Would you care to comment on the current 'action' against a web development and design firm by the name of Monster Design Co. of Benicia, California?

Don't you get that by choosing the common word Monster that one is putting oneself in a really tough position simply due to commonality of said word?

I mean we are talking a web dev firm for pete's sake! Nothing short of MC going out of business will solve this insanity.

The trademark office and court system are partially to blame also.

Is this yet another ongoing court case?
We'll see if Monster Cable will really mend its way, or just worthless words from Noel

 

[mtrycrafts]

...(short of MC filing Chapter 11). .

I think a Chapter 7, closing business, selling assets, would have been better

 

[mtrycrafts]

... I figured that some day, one of the targets would decide to stand firm and go to trial on the trademark claims, and that when this happened, it would result in a US District Court decision which would effectively preclude Monster Cable from being able to make these arguments again.

What I did not imagine, however, was that someone could do this without actually having to go all the way to judgment.

A US District Court would have been a president that others could have stood on. Can this settlement do the same, carry the same weight? If so, Monster Cable will stop their silliness. If not, they will return in due course, I feel.

 

[KurtBJC]

A US District Court would have been a precedent that others could have stood on. Can this settlement do the same, carry the same weight?

No. A settlement has no precedential value at all. So, it remains to be seen whether MC will behave itself--nothing in this resolution precludes MC continuing on the same course, but I suspect that we wouldn't be seeing this resolution if MC intended to do so.

Kurt
Blue Jeans Cable

 

[MidnightSensi]

I hate to be a pain, but, I've lost complete track of this and don't have the time to read through it, anyone got the cliff notes? Damn work keeping in the way of bashing monster cable.

 

[mudrummer99]

MMG= win, MC is going to pay back all of the legal fees they have racked up, drop all suits and opposition to their trademarks and get back to normal life

Noel Lee= still a tool, but maybe trying to redeem a shred of dignity

AH general consensus= MC lawyers should be fired if not sued and disbarred for convincing Noel Lee that it is possible to "Famous Mark" a common word in the English language to, for all I can tell, rack up billable hours.

Cliff enough for you?

Mike

 

[MatthewB.]

Cliff notes to the Cliff notes (the short bus version)

MMG-Yeah!!!
MC, Noel Lee - Asshats

buy your cables at BJC or Monoprice.

 

[Nemo128]

It's amazing that companies like Xerox and Tylenol did not want their brands to be considered for famous marks when they are distinct words, yet this foolish entity wanted one. What little respect I was in the process of building has been permanently squashed.

They didn't want it for a very specific reason. In the case of Xerox, a copy made on a Canon would be called "Xeroxing". Taking anything with ibuprofen would be taking a Tylenol. It would dilute the meaning of their respective names, disassociating the general product function and the brand. Google, by comparison, makes truckloads of cash (an amount that would make Monster Cable very jealous indeed) by offering a freely available search engine! That has landed them ridiculous income from corporate and education clients, and it's all been through word of mouth verb association.

Moral of the story? Make a product people love and you won't need to be a letigious leech on the public and other businesses.

KurtBJC, I've been thinking about making a line of denim called Blue Jeans. We're going to sell pants. Made of denim. Only available in blue. Please don't sue me. =)

 

[MonsterDC]

Monster Cable's still going after me...

Wow! I’m amazed and encouraged by the passion about Monster Cable’s aggressive copyright/trademark stance..for most of 2 years, I thought I was somewhat alone in my dealings with MC. About 2 years ago they sent me a cease and desist letter asking that I: 1. Stop using the name “Monster Design Company” for the design firm I run, 2. Stop using the stylized “M” logo (that I designed, and looks about as close to their fat “M” logo as a cheetah looks to an elephant ((although they are both mammals? )), and turn over the domain name, monsterdesignco.com that I had purchased. (um, OK, so let me get this strait, because I use the common name “Monster”, you want to inflict upon me, a sole proprietor, supporting my wife and two daughters, the laborious process of changing my business name and all the $$ and time that is entailed with that...?

In my business, I create logos and brands for people all the time, and one of the first things I do while discussing with them the brand name and direction for the identity, is recommend that they protect theses assets through the trademark or copyright process...I’m not opposed to the protection of intellectual property, but I would also never advise a company called “Widget Manufacturer” to protect themselves against all uses of the term “Widget” by other companies whose business is totally unrelated...it’s insane, manic, and semantically meaningless...only hurting the Widget Manufacturer’s reputation in the process, and does nothing to protect them against the use of the common term “Widget” in the future...they are swimming against the tide.

Luckily I have a client that happens to be an intellectual property attorney! We sent replies, etc, etc, but moving Monster Cable to just drop it!, has been a ridiculous waste of time and $$money – the time can be translated into experience (and a few good stories to friends), but I want the $$ back!. I’m thrilled for Monster Mini Golf, but I’m still defending MC’s trademark claims against me in a lawsuit so if MC has really changed its ways about going after small companies who use the term “Monster” I’m still waiting to see evidence of it. They are truly a company with to much $$, to much time, and stuck in the past. Will I ever buy a Monster Cable again in my life? Hell No! It seems like things are reaching a tipping point in terms of the buzz about this?? Does anyone else agree? Anyone else out there still being harassed by MC?

 

[jinjuku]

I already asked an employee about the action against you in this very thread(just search for you company name). I am surprised that a tech savvy individual like yourself didn't do what MMG did and make a public stink about it.

 

[jamie2112]

I would call your local new station and paper and fill them in on this....

 

[jinjuku]

Hi Eric,

Would you care to comment on the current 'action' against a web development and design firm by the name of Monster Design Co. of Benicia, California?

Don't you get that by choosing the common word Monster that one is putting oneself in a really tough position simply due to commonality of said word?

I mean we are talking a web dev firm for pete's sake! Nothing short of MC going out of business will solve this insanity.

The trademark office and court system are partially to blame also.

Eric? you there, has MC changed it's stripes?

 

[esross]

Some facts from Monster Cable

Wow! I’m amazed and encouraged by the passion about Monster Cable’s aggressive copyright/trademark stance..<<SNIP>> Anyone else out there still being harassed by MC?

Hey there, this is Erik from Monster Cable. Hope you don't mind, but I shortened the response to reduce clutter for everyone reading.

I talked with our legal department and found out what's up. I'd like to start by saying that Monster Cable has no problem with Monster Design using its name as a trademark for their company. And I want to clarify that we haven't sued Monster Design -- they are suing us (as I believe MonsterDC sort-of stated).

This all started sometime ago when our attorneys sent a letter (not a lawsuit) to Monster Design asking them to stop using "Monster Design", because they thought it infringed on our own "Monster Design" trademarks as well as one of our licensees that is in the same business as Monster Design.

Once we realized that our attorneys did this, we asked them to retract the letter and not do anything else. Again, we have no problem with Monster Design using "Monster Design" as a trademark for their company.

However, before that could get done, Monster Design sued Monster Cable. Their suit is asking the court to rule that their Monster Design trademark does not infringe ours.

It was an unnecessary and expensive step for them to file a lawsuit against us. We are not sure why they decided to spend their money on this. We have now been put in a position where we have had to spend a lot of money to defend ourselves. We feel that this lawsuit is a waste of the court's time, and we are in discussions with Monster Design and have asked them to drop the suit.

Thanks.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hey there, this is Erik from Monster Cable. Hope you don't mind, but I shortened the response to reduce clutter for everyone reading.

I talked with our legal department and found out what's up. I'd like to start by saying that Monster Cable has no problem with Monster Design using its name as a trademark for their company. And I want to clarify that we haven't sued Monster Design -- they are suing us (as I believe MonsterDC sort-of stated).

This all started sometime ago when our attorneys sent a letter (not a lawsuit) to Monster Design asking them to stop using "Monster Design", because they thought it infringed on our own "Monster Design" trademarks as well as one of our licensees that is in the same business as Monster Design.

Once we realized that our attorneys did this, we asked them to retract the letter and not do anything else. Again, we have no problem with Monster Design using "Monster Design" as a trademark for their company.

However, before that could get done, Monster Design sued Monster Cable. Their suit is asking the court to rule that their Monster Design trademark does not infringe ours.

It was an unnecessary and expensive step for them to file a lawsuit against us. We are not sure why they decided to spend their money on this. We have now been put in a position where we have had to spend a lot of money to defend ourselves. We feel that this lawsuit is a waste of the court's time, and we are in discussions with Monster Design and have asked them to drop the suit.

Thanks.

Now you know what those 400+ outfits you guys bullied to sign over their rights to you feels like. One day, someone will put you guys in your place, permanently.