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]
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!)
WTF is a "sexy cable"?
Do you feel the need to admire then sleep with it instead of using it for its intended purpose?
The son of Leeroy Jenkins has spoken.
Now i do agree with you that monster is being extremely stupid bringing a lawsuit against this company. In no way, shape or form is this going to negatively effect there business. I also agree that some of the prices monster charges are a bit high but your not giving the readers of this site the whole story. For example i work at a local Circuit City in upstate NY as a Entertainment Manager. I had a customer come in today and drop $3500 on a Samsung LNT4665F that was on sale for $1500, a BOSE 321 for $900,cables installs and warranty. I get them all set and we start talking about cables and such and i personally recommended Monster and not because im trained to or get commission but because i choose to. Now the cables would cost $205 at retail but i gave them to the customer for a $150 because they choose to come and do business with me and i feel i should take care of them any way i can. Now the way i see it i am there to get the customer to buy BUT more importantly it is my job to give the customer all options so they can make an informed decision. I dont force people to buy Monster Cables its there choice not mine. Now you think Monster Cable is crazy when it comes to margin you should look at some the house brands that retailers carry. Some of the cables you buy have a 60 to 90% margin on them which is considerable compared to monster. Remember everyone its your choice of what you buy not the associates. If you dont like the way your being treated or feel that there being pushy then just leave its as simple as that. Now this comment is Ryan Block - Now i do agree with you that some of Monsters products are over priced but i can think of items that we buy every day that are over priced. Does Monster Cable make a good product? I think so! Instead if complaining about how much money Monster makes you should direct your customers to sites where they could buy monster cables or other companies products for less.
The fact you sold them a Bose system says it all.
TL; DR
but from what i can gather you're an asshat
Goddamn dude I want that shit you're smoking. That last line (yeah, I can't believe I read the whole thing either) blew my mind.
To quote from a Dilbert strip:
"I bring you a little clump of blank space. You put it in between long rambling sentences. Next week, I'll introduce you to a little curvy thing I call a comma."
Cables, Installs and Warranty cost them $1100?! I'd say it's pretty clear you raped them, as if the Bose and Monster sales weren't proof enough already.
Monster Cable could use you as Exhibit A in their prosecution of all that is sanity. I can almost hear you say "join me on the dark side and together we can rule the universe... "
Why does Monster have to be such bitches all the time? They are already charging 10000 times the price that the cables they sell are worth.
Monster, don't be evil.
Just tell people not to buy it if it bothers you so much
careful, any more negative mention of monster here will get engadget sued
I hardly doubt people are "dumb" for buying Monster Cable. The type of cables one buys aren't at the top of the list of things to care about for most people. If they spend too much for the cables, so what? You buy them how often? Once every five to ten years? The amount of time wasted researching cables would cost most people buying Monster Cable far more than grabbing whatever the sales guy says is good. Not everyone can be an A/V nerd. Monster are most definitely overpriced, but they aren't bad cables.
This is as stupid as the PC/Mac nonsense.
We've got laws being bounced around to stop consumers making so-called frivolous lawsuits, but none to keep companies from doing it. That's America, baby!!
Review each and every item, listing links to 3 cheaper or better alternative every time. Google bomb them with links to overpriced, stupid, moron, etc.. Believe me, they WANT to to no cover them.
Wow $150 for some cables at a discount, What a good guy you are, HAHAHAHAHA. I just got a new Plasma from Best Buy and had them Price Match and saved $400 from their already lowered price, and got a set of Klipsch speakers that were open box and so selling for $50 less at $450, and I got them down to $400. I also ordered a couple HDMI cables at Monoprice.com.
I've gotten well made cabled from Wal-Mart that are Philips's brand for example that have a Lifetime Warranty. In fact I've gotten a lot of other brand cables that have had Lifetime Warranty's with them and in all these years, not 1 has failed. Monster Cables are a complete and total rip-off. It's been proven time after time that they are a compete waste of money. I was reading one article testing cables, they had one Monster HDMI cable that was so thick and heavy that it wanted to pull out of the HDMI connection enough to give a really bad picture! Monster like BOSE are all about Selling cheap crap at high prices and using some of them profits on heavy advertising to suckers.
Really, what are you doing with your cables that would cause them to fail anyway. They sit there behind your hardware doing nothing at all but sit there. Unless your playing with your cables, or have some animal chewing on them, cheap cables will last a long time and work just as well. Hell you could buy a new cheap cable once a year for years for a price of a single Monster cable.
I always tell whoever not to waste their money on over priced Monster cables.
Hey good for you that you got a great deal on a new tv and speakers. Yes I agree that BOSE is way overpriced but people have this idea that they are the best in the world and they obviously are'nt. Im just curious which tv did you end up going with?
I'm sure they'd love for you to stop covering them. Uneducated consumers is how they make their money.
Monster Cable is as big a joke as Bose... Any A/V nut worth his weight should warn every best buy consumer of the incredible ripoff that is Bose & Monster Cables. They are to A/V what AOL is to Internet... dummy poison.
I remember when my mom bought a new tv and vcr/dvd combo at circuit shitty. The dvd/vcr combo was about $220+ at the time. Needing cables we bought them. Oh Yeah, Over $200 worth made by you guessed it Monster. Now I'm wiser. But I will never again get taken any local retailer for an electronic device, much less a cable, ever again. I saved my dad $500 on some binocs via internet sale and the guy over the phone happily sold him all accessories-lol.
Anyways, the name 'monster' has been around long before the company. For them to try to sue every entity which utilizes the benign & gradeschool kid word "IN CONTEXT" is absurd. Now if another company attempted to name themselves "MONSTER" inc, co, whatever; then I see a lawsuit; but not till then.
Oh yeah. Money is saved by NOT buying cables & has nothing to do with buying a hdtv setup or even the rest of the store.
The idea that it is better to have spare cables is great but taken to the extreme is pie in the sky (I need 2 girlfriends myself).
Their logo used to look a lot like the old Williams logo. Maybe Midway should sue THEM and give 'em a taste of their own medicine.
Did you just arrogantly suggest on a stranger's site what that site should do, to avoid being judged arrogant by you?
Interesting..
You should only have negative stories about them, such as discussing their false advertising.
I don't think you need to outright ban Monster news, just set an editorial policy not to promote snake oil. That would take care of Monster and their silly cables without specifically singling them out.
Time to thin the herd people. Such stupidity cannot and should not be tolerated, PERIOD. Let's begin by stopping the biggest pusher of all, BB & CC for even stocking such absolute garbage in the first place. Then when Monster Cable is crying in their own foolishness in the streets, shaking their heads wondering where they messed everything up, blindside them with their own garbage.
I doubt Monster Cables would ever generate any notable news that's anything other than negative, so just keep publishing those stories as a public service.
Monster Cable are acting responsibly.
I automatically think "Golf!" when buying their products. They have every right to sue. The confusion is so great that I think I'm buying something worthwhile (like a nice set of clubs) and I get home and find out I've bought some really overpriced useless cables that did nothing for my sound.
This rampant stealing of the good Monster name has to stop so I can stop making such erroneous purchasing decisions. The confusion has to end!
I didn't see him making demands, just setting provisions on coverage. Looks like someone bought some cables from BB.
Many of you have probably seen this already, but if you haven't it's worth a read. Monster Cable tried to bully a smaller cable manufacturer named Blue Jeans Cable. Apparently, they didn't realize the owner was a former litigator.
If you haven't seen it, read his response here:
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/legal/mcp/index.htm
The Blue Jeans Cable guy's response is priceless, a must read.
I love Blue Jeans. I buy all of my cables from them.
I sent their legal department an email complaining and got this:
Thank you for your email and concern.
We are merely trying to protect our federally registered trademark for Monster.
We know we don't own the word "Monster." However, we do own the federally registered trademark for Monster for sporting events, sporting goods, and amusement parks, and have business interests in those areas. This may surprise you, because you probably know us for our Monster Cable audio and video products.
Monster Mini golf, is a corporation from the east coast which is franchising miniature golf courses across the US under the name Monster. They are not a small company. Their franchisees may be small companies, however, the parent company is larger.
Monster Mini Golf's use of "Monster" as a trademark infringes our federally registered trademarks. If we do not protect our trademarks, we will lose them. It is a valuable trademark for Monster, so we have to protect it.
We have asked Monster Mini golf to stop, and we hope they do. We do not like having to result to litigation to resolve trademark issues.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Also, if you are spreading this to others you may want to call me first, so you get the other side of the story.
Thanks,
Dave
Back when I was a kid, there was - and still is - a savoury snack called "Monster Munch". I hated them so much that I feel Monster Cable should sue retrospectively for 30 years of damages.
Alternatively they should stop with the silly lawsuits and try to repair the PR damage of overpriced cables and frivolous litigation and stop treating consumers like they're cretins.
First, I am not a lawyer.
It may be silly, but if they don't defend their trademark they can actually lose the rights to it. Here's an example: Let's say they didn't pursue this suit. Some point in the future there may be a more serious threat to their trademark ("Minster Cable" or whatever). Monster Cable goes to sue them and they just point out to the courts that they weren't bothered by "Monster *" so why should "Minster Cable" matter? Case closed and Monster Cable now has a very big problem.
"hey, when you're making 1000%+ margin on merch"
If you're going to criticise them at least get the terminology right - you *can't make* more than 100% margin for a zero or greater than zero cost per unit. Margin is the percentage discount from the sell price to get to the cost price.
1000% markup maybe, but not margin.
They taught us how to live...
They taught us how to love...
MONSTER BALLADS
ryanwho@monstercable.com
Just FYI -- when I worked at CompUSA, almost every cable was sold for 2000% markup or thereabouts.
If Monster Cables are being sold for *only* 1000% markup, I would be surprised. Tack another digit onto there.
I used to sell cables to large stores and they used to mark most of the cables at 400% margin. These were cheap cables. The only reason monster cable exists, is because of BB and CC. they make make more money on selling a bunch of cables with a tv sale than they do on the tv. I heard someone get told they other day in BB that the only hdmi cable that works with the PS3 is the $99 one??
Have they sued Monster energy drink?
There's one of these mini golf places near me... they're not that great (unnecessarily difficult courses) but they really get all the art kids a place to show their work and they do workshops with kids on making things for the store. (which I guess is child labor...)
I'm surprised Monster energy hasn't sued Monster Mini Golf... their logos are similar.
I don't think you should cover any products by them, but definitely let us know of any wacky stuff going on.
Believe it or not, Monster Cables are worth the cost (in certain situations).
Whoa, whoa! What did I say?! Monster cables are worth it?
Yep.
They guarantee their cables for life. What does that mean? Free cable replacement. This doesn't effect really any home owner, or most stage use. However, groups like marching bands /out door events can really benefit. You put a year's worth of wear on those cables, pulling at the jacket and inner conductors, poor coiling, etc., and you really decrease the lifespan of the cable. However, if you only have Monster Cable, then it's not a problem, at the beginning of the year you supply exchange what it amounts to a crate of mic cable for brand new cable. Two-three years go by, and the cables have paid for themselves. Just keep the receipts.
Actually Monster cable isn't ripping the consumer off as much as Best Buy, Circuit City, ETC are. Monster does not set the price of the cables.
Monster is selling Best buy the cables for 70% of MSRP. SO Best buy is buying the cable for $30 if it is a $100 cable. Best buy could in fact sell a Monster cable for $35 and still make a profit. However they choose to sell the product for $100 and make $70 rather than $5. One sad thing is that the package that Monster Cables come in actually cost more than the cables themselves to produce.
What you have to understand is Markup (percentage above net cost) and Margin (percentage of the dollar sale above wholesale cost). Margin can never be over 100% however Markup can, but you can really only use Markup if you buy direct from the supplier. If you buy a product for $9 that cost the manufacturer $3 the markup is 300%.
Standard large retailer practice is keystoning. Or charging double the wholesale price. The typical product vendor tries to at least make 40% from MSRP. This is because packaging, sales commision, and frieght generally take up about 15-18% of margin. Typical production cost is around 10-15% of MSRP. So a producer really ends up with a net of about 10-15% of MSRP. Doesn't really seem fair that a retailer gets to make 50% or more but the actual producer only gets to make 10%.
But it gets worse. Wal-Mart will not sell a product unless they get 65% margin or better. In fact you can only get the 65% margin if you can provide an insane level of product. Most of the time it is beyond the capability of your company to produce. Wal-Mart does this on purpose to lock most suppliers into the 70% margin level. Most companies that sell to Wal-Mart only end up making 5-10% of MSRP on thier own products while Wall-Mart makes 70%.
It is getting to the point now where companies that produce goods can no longer make a profit from selling goods to retail accounts. Monster may make overpriced pieces of crap but it is the big box retail account that is putting the hurt on the consumer.
Actually, Iridium, Monster DOES set the price. I used to work for a pro audio dealer, and the Monster Cable rep stopped by to pitch his wares to us. He made a point of saying that the dealer agreement requires the dealer to sell the product at list price; sort of removing any competitive advantage a box mover such as Guitar Center had, and giving us incentive to pick up the product line. He left the store, we had a good laugh, and continued to buy our much cheaper cables that, in all probability, would last longer than Monster.
Standard-grade microphone cables are typically made with 24-gauge wire; we bought 20-gauge wire cables (had to specifically ask the mfrs for it), with quality Neutrik connectors, and none were ever returned broken. Even with our good quality parts, these cables were significantly cheaper than Monster.
Have they actually been sued, or is this another cease & desist deal?
Don't blackball them - but only cover their stupidity. That's worse. ;-)
Just a minor point.
I think you mean 1000%+ Markup, rather than margin.
In order to get a 1000% margin, they would be pocketing 10X the sale price, on every sale. Kinda impossible, really.
I never found a reason to cover their over priced crap in the first place.
Just to let everyone know: I've contacted the owner of the company, Christina Vitagliano, and offered my support. I think it's very clear that she's in the right here, and what's very encouraging is that she sounds like a real fighter. This isn't someone who's going to quietly sign a licensing agreement and never be heard from again; I expect a brouhaha.
By the way, I noticed the post above by Jeff Haynes quoting what he says is a message from David Tognotti, Monster Cable's house counsel, on the subject of the Monster Mini Golf debacle. Of all things, he's trying to make it out that Ms. Vitagliano's Monster Mini Golf is a big east-coast company (well, she's in Providence, RI, so she is "east coast." As for big--well, she sounds like a great person and I hope her company gets very big indeed, but it's clearly no vast corporate behemoth -- I would say "Monster" if I wouldn't get sued -- today.).
May I make a suggestion to those who are outraged over this? Monster Cable has no doubt received a lot of hostile e-mail from customers and ex-customers over these things, but it clearly hasn't done any good. Consider, when you sit down to write an e-mail, writing to Best Buy or Circuit City to ask them why they carry this product line and to ask them to pass along your feelings to Monster Cable. Retail product placement is the sine qua non of Monster Cable Company; that retail placement translates into sales dollars on a grand scale.
Kurt Denke
Blue Jeans Cable
I live in RI and I have never even heard of Monster Mini Golf... Nor would I confuse it with Monster Cables, I agree that their logo is closer to the Monster Energy drink logo. You can't really trademark or copyright somebodies nightmares can you?