Attn: Red Sox Fans, we need your support!

by giveParisAsandwich on Dec 18, 2008 11:05 PM EST Comment 13 comments

OK, first off..I love the Sox! Duh.

Anyway, I am hoping some of you out there can help us.
We are a New England based company that is being harrassed by a California company for using the word Monster in our business name. And before we really get started...this crazy company also went after the Red Sox for use of the word "Monster" in the Green Monster wall. (which has been around a hell of a lot longer than these people.)

The company is called Monster Cable...they make audio cables and such. We are..Monster Mini Golf (indoor Glow-in-the-Dark Monster themed Mini golf and family entertainment centers). I know, I know, you're thinking, geez that's almost the same thing, no wonder why Monster Cable opposed and sued these people. Monster themed Mini Golf and Audio Cables, one in the same right?

Anyway, they have a huge reputation for draining Mom & Pop businesses dry till they have no more funds to defend their name (via legal fees) and then the Mom & Pop companies have to cave in and change their name..or at times have gone out of business because Monster Cable sucked them dry of money all together.
The company's founder Noel lee is just trying to stack up enough "Monster" bricks by bullying people into signing their business name over to him and then he gains more clout.

They tried to sue us, we fought back...now have a $200,000 legal bill and they still are asking us to sign our name over to them for a fee. It's insane. They are even trying to tell the public they are donating the money they get from us to charity. That's called a Smoke & Mirror effect. Snow the public to gain what he wants, another "Monster" name so he can then go after the next small Mom & Pop that happens to own...Monster blankets or something.

It's all very sad. We are the 414th company they have bullied and well, being New Englanders and all...we are fighting back to stop him from doing this to anyone else. But we could really use your help. All we are asking is that you email or call or do whatever you need to do to voice your opinion to these corporate bullies.

We have actually listed story on eBay click here and our web site has all of their emails and phone#'s..and all Best Buy stores carry their cables. Anything you can do to help get our voices out there would be appreciated. We have locations in Danvers, Norwood, Fairhaven, Seekonk and Webster MA.. All invidually owned by different Mom & Pops. All working very hard in this day and age to make their businesses work.

Thanks!
Christina Vitagliano
Co-Founder
Monster Mini Golf
401-454-8100
christina@monsterminigolf.com
www.monsterminigolf.com

0 recs | Comment 13 comments

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What's in a name?

A great deal. Companies that do not protect their trademarked names (through litigation) can lose them. Companies that don’t carefully research the availability of business names can expose themselves to liability.

For anyone that cares, this is Monster Cable’s response to the Mini Golf suit.
My impression of them isn’t very positive. It sounds like they sell a product the. To put this in baseball terms, it’s charging too much and fielding mediocre teams. Like the San Francisco Giants (no offense to Giants fans intended). From the Monster Cable piece, it seems that litigation has ended.

I don’t care for what Monster Cable has done. But Monster Minigolf isn’t some weeping slighted maiden (to anthropomorphize the entity). You the operators clearly had the financial means to retain legal representation and contest a suit that might otherwise have been resolved. You could have changed your name and saved the money. You didn’t, and that doesn’t make you heroes.

"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.

by 0157H7 on Dec 19, 2008 1:02 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

*incomplete sentence

It sounds like they sell a product that is way overpriced, and has no real value over an ordinary cable.

"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.

by 0157H7 on Dec 19, 2008 11:27 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You seem to have some knowledge of this so...

to me it seems absurd that a company could claim the word Monster as a trademark. I don’t really get it. What about the Monster beverages? It’s not like Monster cable invented the word monster. The law seems odd a lot of times, especially in this case.

by BTLove on Dec 19, 2008 11:22 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I know a little about intellectual property law.

Emphasis on the word “little.” If anyone knows more, feel free to correct me.

Entities can trademark names with the US Patent Office. I’ll posit one scenario where this might be useful and beneficial, both to individuals and to society.

You are the owner of a restaurant chain, The Good Grub. You offer delicious, nutricious food at equitable prices, and have developed a devoted following in Eastern Massachusetts. Over the twenty years of its operation, The Good Grub has built up ‘goodwill’ with long-time customers, and made a name for itself.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, a restauranteur comes to town and sets up his own restaurant. He names it, “Good Grub Cooking” in order to benefit from possible confusion with your restaurant. However, you do nothing, because you figure this upstart poses no real threat to your operation.

A year later, fifty people are sickened, and four die, in a major outbreak of food poisoning. The source is identified as the Good Grub Cooking restaurant. The outbreak is covered in both national and regional media. As a competent businessman, you notice that traffic is down along your highway locations. In a newly opened restaurant, business has suddenly dropped off. Your staff tell stories of customers asking if your restaurants were the same as the one involved in the food poisoning, and if their food was safe. You realize that this scandal, through no fault of your own, has cost you and your business money.

Had you taken steps to preserve your claim to the name “Good Grub,” this scenario might have been avoided. You could have sought a trademark to it from the Federal Government. When the rival business opened up, you could have demanded that they change their name, so as to avoid confusion.

"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.

by 0157H7 on Dec 19, 2008 11:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs