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Monster Cable tries to make it better, drops minigolf suit
Behold the power of bad press: Monster Cable last week decided to drop its ridiculous trademark lawsuit against Monster Mini Golf. According to founder Noel Lee, Monster Cable will drop any opposition to the "Monster Mini Golf" trademark, won't require any licensing fees, and it'll also step up and pay Monster Mini Golf's attorney's fees in an effort to make things right. Of course, it wouldn't be Noel Lee if he didn't caveat his actions with some weird martyr nonsense -- are you ready? "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 and risk losing it." Yeah, somehow we just don't believe Noel Lee really thinks that Monster is in danger of losing its mark over putt-putt -- a better paranoia would be the fear that consumers will one day realize that Monster's cables and power strips are just overpriced snake oil.[Via TechDirt]
Monster Cable still evil, will allow Monster Mini Golf to exist for just $100/month (per franchise)
So as you may remember, back in May Monster Cable pulled one of its sad bully tactics and sued a company called Monster Mini Golf, claiming that the glow-in-the-dark putt-putt outfit was somehow harming its trademarks -- a nonsensical brand of idiotic evil we were so tired of implicitly condoning that we held a vote on whether or not we'd even continue to cover Monster at all. Not surprisingly, 60 percent of you responded in the negative, and we've dutifully ignored the company, its ridiculous cables and overblown power strips ever since -- and, to be honest, we've been fine with it.Well, it looks like Monster's trying to rehab its image: the company's put up a site today called "Monster Mini Golf Truth" that apparently makes public a proposed settlement agreement between Monster Cable and Monster Mini Golf. As you'd expect from a company as ham-fisted and reflexively nasty as Monster Cable, it's basically another attempt to exert a death grip on the word "Monster." Monster Cable says it's dropping the lawsuit and that the mini golf people can still be called "Monster Mini Golf," but only if they pay a $100 / month license fee and agree that Monster Cable owns the mark outright. In turn, Monster Cable will donate $100 each month to two different charities, including one that gives Segways to disabled veterans. Sure, it sounds nice, but it's notable that Monster Cable is trying to settle this in public rather than in the conference room of a law firm -- Monster Mini Golf stands a fair shot of winning this one in court, and we'd bet they've already turned this offer down privately. We don't know how this one will end, but we do know you probably shouldn't have the CEO of your company saying things like "We're not some big corporate Mongols" in a video designed to sway public opinion. It's after the break, in case you were wondering why the ban on Monster still stands.Update: As one astute reader's pointed out, Monster Cable is asking for $100 per month, per franchise. With twenty-two franchises, that adds up to $2,200 a month.
Monster Cable at it again, sues mini-golf company
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]%Poll-14720%
