Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Monster Cable sues yet again

No... I wasn't joking. I Googled it and I approve your message!

Sigh! The English language, as I have known and loved it, is an endangered species.

Yo.... I ain't wit dat.

One word... Umbrage!

You are probably right. However, to prove you are right means going to court. While Monster [Cable] my not be Sony or Microsoft, I'm guessing their litigation war chest is much larger than Monster [the Golf course]. Thus, it becomes an easy business decision for Monster [golf] to just pay them $2,400 a month.
We lawyers can't feed our pet dragons for $2,400 a month, much less conduct the full-scale war that is business litigation. Litigating this to the end would cost Monster Golf millions, and a victory does not give Golf their legal fees back; it just lets you keep the name and their $2,400.

That is the reality of big business. Some (i.e., large companies) see it as the purest form of capitalism, others (i.e., everybody else) see it as an anticompetitive abuse of capitalism. But trademarks and patents are presumed valid until you prove them invalid. So Monster [Cable] can continue to attack every golf course, arcade, and lemonade stand that uses the unique phrase "monster" or any image associated therewith until someone stands up and defeats the trademark.

Not going to happen I’m afraid. Not until Microsoft designs Windows Monster, at which point Monster Cable will get hit with a suit from Mr. Gates, and Monster will cry that the bigger fish is abusing its monopoly power. Circle of life…

I saw some toy named "Monster ______" at wallgreens while last minute shopping. I laughed and wondered if monster was going to sue them too.

Wait...does this mean that Disney needs to put Monster Cable ads in every Monsters Inc. DVD? Or they could just make the DVD not playable through anything but Monster Cables.

I seem to recall Monster having an issue with the title of the movie.........found it:

"San Jose, California, Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney
Co.'s upcoming movie, ``Monsters, Inc.,'' violates the trademark
of Monster Cable Products Inc., the audio and video products
company claims in a lawsuit.
Monster Cable Products sued Disney today, saying it has used
the name since 1978 and seeks to stop Disney from using the title
in sequels or other products. In addition to seeking unspecified
damages, the company wants to restrict Disney's use of the name to
the original movie and prohibit its use in any subsequent products
such as television shows, video games or toys.
Disney is teaming with Pixar Inc., the producers of ``Toy
Story'' and ``A Bug's Life'' to produce the movie about a ``scare
factory in the monster world,'' according to a Disney press
release. The movie is scheduled for release in November.
Brisbane, California-based Monster Cable fears Disney's
``business practice of producing sequels or a series of titles
stemming from an original title'' will be applied to ``Monsters,
Inc.'' and cause confusion with its own audio, sound and video
products, according to a complaint filed in San Jose federal
court.
Disney shares fell to their lowest in six and a half years
after Goldman, Sachs & Co. bought 135 million shares of the
entertainment company at an estimated 22 percent discount to
Wednesday's closing price.
Officials at Disney did not immediately return calls seeking
comment on the lawsuit."

Another link to another article where they mention some of the other companies Monster has sued and apprently won or settled with

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...L&type=business

Makes me hate Monster products even more.

Here is a fun Rant to read:

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/monster-monsters.php

the day I go to their corporate offices and learn if a molotov cocktail with a Monster USB fuse burns faster than a normal one.

If Monster Cable played chicken with Disney, they must have a huge litigation war chest. I'm guessing that case settled for some deal to use Monster Cable at Disney on some project. Got to give them credit, Monster is not just barking at the little dogs, although I suspect Disney laughed at them when they tried to flex the "we invented the trade name Monster" muscle.

A few other sites mention there was a good chance Monster dropped the suit with Disney as long as it was left in the news as "settled out of court"