Monster Cable at it again, sues mini-golf company
By Ryan Block 
posted May 26th 2008 11:48PM
posted May 26th 2008 11:48PM
If it wasn't already perfectly clear by now that Monster Cable's cables aren't really worth the price (or any price above the cost of a coat-hanger), and that they're only using those bloated markups to perpetuate their reputation as money-grubbing lawsuit-happy snakeoil peddlers, we'd call your attention to their latest target: Monster Mini Golf, a chain of glow-in-the-dark mini-golf courses based out of Rhode Island. Apparently Monster Cable claims that the Monster Mini Golf brand is confusing to the public and dilute their trademark. Of course, this suit isn't really any more absurd than their suits against Monster.com, the Chicago Bears (aka the "Monsters of the Midway"), or the Pixar film Monsters, Inc. -- that is to say, it's equally and completely ridiculous. But hey, when you're making 1000%+ margin on merch, you can only swim in entire pools of liquid gold so long before seeking out the thrill only found in wasting taxpayer dollars on frivolous lawsuits.Hey, so here's an idea: perhaps everyone should just stop buying anything made by Monster Cable. That or set up a dummy corporation with the word "monster" in the name, since you're basically guaranteed they'll spin their wheels serving a summons for merely existing. (Don't worry, you'll have limited personal liability.) You pick, whatever's easier.
[Thanks, Jason; also, here's the Monster Mini Golf site]
| Yes, obviously, blackball 'em. | |
|---|---|
| No, let them dig their own grave. | |
| Meh, whatever. |
The logo looks more like it'd be confused with Monster Energy drinks than Monster Cable.
Either way, Monster Cable is a bunch of idiots, and I'm surprised they haven't tried to sue the Monster Energy drink company yet.
They did.
Ryan, in tribute to Monster Cable, Engadget should turn into "Monstergadget" for the day and turn your whole website green, just like what you did with the crazy T-Mobile. I think even real monsters would laugh at that.
so does this mean i can sue you for stealing my comment idea??
"Either way, Monster Cable is a bunch of idiots..."
Hehehe
@Seth:
That's a brilliant idea. Let's have a vote for that.
As for this vote, I definitely think you should keep covering them. Just be sure to abuse them a bit in every post.
@Seth:
Great idea! Just take it to the next logical step: Engadget's new sister (daughter?) site should be called "Engadget Monster" (or "Monster by Engadget" or "Monstergadget" or "Enmonstergadget" or "Monster Cable Gadget") and the entire site should be, of course, magenta...
OK- There stuff is like 20 times overpriced anyway. This Best Buy salesman talked my mom into buying an $80 cable - brought it home, and the thing was so stiff with insulation I couldn't even attache it to the back of the TV. Bought a much better replacement for $3.99 at Target the next day.
seth -
thats an awesome idea! i was just about to say the same thing before i saw your comment
I live in RI and I just learned about the Monster Mini Golf place yesterday when I picked up a flyer in a restaurant. The last thing that crossed my mind was "Oh, is this the same company that makes the cables?"
Monster (the cable company) is awful. I wish dumb people would stop paying $200 for HDMI cables so they'd go out of business already.
yeah, me too.
I stopped buying their crap years ago when I found out a digital signal is a digital signal. Their 'gold" plated, better connection claims and ridiculous plate had me on that "blackball" their products bandwagon a long time ago.
If they're dumb enough to buy it, I'm all for it. Natural selection at work.
Except when your local BB is convincing your grandparents they require Monster Cables. I'm all for audiophiles blowing all their cash on this stuff. It's a different story when you're prey on innocents, e.g. the vast majority of the world that take a salesman at their word.
@evensong I totally agree with you. My parents were buying a HD Theater, when the Best Buy Geek told them that Monster cable is the way to go. I abruptly pulled out my iPod touch, went to Engadget's story about how audiophiles couldn't see the difference between Monster cables and coat hangers, and my parents were $200 richer.
Audiophiles don't buy Monster, it's too common for them. They buy Virtual Dynamics (read: $13,000 power cable).
Stupid consumers that don't do research buy Monster.
My g/f's parents just bought an HDTV and stereo and the asshole at CC told them that they needed the Monster Cable because it supports a higher frequency, allowing the signal to be much better....needless to say, they're returning it and I'm bringing over some $10 mono-price cables for them.
Seth: Unless your sleuthing so embarrassed Best Buy that they decided to give your folks $200, they were most certainly not any sum richer. Yes, you may have kept them from buying overpriced cables, but I'm willing to bet that they left Best Buy that night with less money than when they entered. Thus, they were the opposite of "richer."
@DG: Ever hear of the phrase "A penny saved is a penny earned"?
AJ: Yes, I have. They could have saved a lot of pennies by not buying an HD Theater in the first place.
It's a stupid argument, but I laugh whenever says they saved something by buying something. You didn't save a damn thing.
So let me get this straight: You're in the market for a good or service (say, groceries) and you find one item that is less than the other, and you spend no more time or energy buying the less expensive good. In your estimation, nothing was saved? What about the difference between the lower priced good and the higher priced good?
You need food either way, or if your alternatively if your old tube TV takes a crap you can buy a new flat screen. Pretend that you are going to make the purchase, period. Paying less means saving money. Get that? It's not called saving money because you aren't saving anything. Did you spend money on that TV or your groceries? Of course, but that doesn't mean you didn't save your money by going with the less expensive purchase. Don't be an idiot.
DG: WHO CARES??
@Jesse S
"...audiophiles don't buy Monster, it's too common for them. They buy Virtual Dynamics (read: $13,000 power cable)."
Yes, because all audiophiles are disgustingly filthy rich.
You know, i work in a big electronic store, and you would be surprised at the number of customers who refuse to believe us when we tell them that they are good with just the generic cables, and not the monster cables. They almost take it as an insult, like they didn't get a good enough TV to get the Monster cables, or, that we dont think that they can afford them. I find it entertaining, Monster has done a great job at marketing.
When have they made anything worth covering anyway?
I like the blackball idea. Give coverage to companies that deserve it; not money-grubbing asshats like Monster.
Perhaps a kind Monoprice write up? :D
Ah, yet another Monoprice fan. Seriously, that site is awesome for anyone looking for HDMI cables. I haven't tried any analog cables from them, but I hear they're good as well.
It's really a shame that companies like Monster Cable can even exist. Unfortunately major retailers continue to perpetuate the misconception that technology it too hard to understand for anyone except their "experts" (read: teenagers paid minimum wage with a week of training and scripts to read) and rely on it to exploit the average consumer. It's disgusting.
Yeah, I get all of my cables from Monoprice or Blue Jeans Cable.
I've never seen a postive news article on this site for monster cables, so blackballing will actually be more postive for them.
Keep up the coverage.
I'm pretty sure anyone intelligent enough to navigate over to engadget already knows not to buy any monster cables.
Keep coverin' them till they die (or at least smell funny).
I had bad mexican food for dinner and just dropped a MONSTER steamer. I think they should come pick it up immediately since they obviously have legal rights to it.
I know some people who swear by Monster cables. They are also quite dumb. At school I try to enlighten some of the technologically uninformed by telling them about Monoprice.
Looks like we hit a sensitive spot...
I want them to sue an "actual" monster. Loch Ness Monster, Cookie Monster, maybe the entire species of Gilamonster
Wow. That comment brought out a well-needed laugh.
Thank you.
"If you and others don't like it, cease all the coverage. "
---
Maybe I misread, but isn't that *exactly* what the poll suggests doing?
As an audio technician, there's nothing better than going to replace a customer's expensive gold-plated cable with one of my cheapest-I-could-buy cables. Because the end doesn't matter, if you abuse your cable, it will crackle.
Heh if you look around the Monster Mini-Golf site I would suspect a lawsuit from Lucas Arts before Monster Cables.
*Website's opening splash page contains their logo and the text... "The Millennium Falcon of Mini Golf"*. There are a lot of places in Mass. though, I might check them out when I head up north to visit friends there.
The first time I ever heard of Monster Cable I thought they were the best you could have. The minute I saw the price I realized they were full of shit.
lawl just checked their site...first thing i found was a $50 firewire cable
I have a few Monster instrument cables. The build quality tends to be better and they last longer than some other cheaper cables I have used. I can't tell a difference in audio quality, but I only buy the $20 Monster cables, not the $100 ones.
I am an audio engineer and a musician. I have used just about every cable there is. I will say this about Monster cables; If you are a TOURING musician, they can be worth the extra money. Not because of the sound, but because of the inevitable day that you're playing a show and someone accidentally destroys a cable during load in. Monster cables are the only ones that I have literally torn apart, and then walked into a Guitar Center, demanded a new one, and gotten it replaced for free. They may have cost more to start, but when you're living off per-diem, that lifetime warranty can be a real life saver.
Now, this is not to defend the story in any way. I agree that the lawsuit is beyond frivolous. But, after reading some of the comments about the cables themselves, I feel that credit must be paid where due.
That is all.
@Pro-Tools God: "Monster cables are the only ones that I have literally torn apart, and then walked into a Guitar Center, demanded a new one, and gotten it replaced for free."
Or you could just carry a few extra spare cables around, have more money left in your pocket, and not have to find and then walk to a Guitar Center for a replacement.
Can't you just stop all coverage of them forever? You could use the space covering products that some of us might consider buying.
Space, what is this space you refer to. Unless you print out endgadget and read it on the bus?
Looking at the logo of that site, I would moreso expect Monster Energy Drinks to sue them than Monster Cable.
yeah, that was like the first comment...
If I had the capital, I'd start a company called Monster Coat Hangers. When they sued me, they would actually have a legitimate claim that my company was diluting their trademark. ;)
It probably won't help but I sent an email to legal@monstercable.com which appears to be the legal dept. public address. If anyone is interested...
XtremeMac makes sexy, affordable cables under their XtremeHD label. You can get them at any Apple store. Pretty durable, as I've had their optical and HDMI cables for about 6 months now and no issues so far. (And I'm not even a Mac user!)