According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, attorneys filed a dismissal motion on behalf of Denco, an ethanol producer in Morris, Minn. that had been selling a product called “Monster Deer Block” since 2005. What were they trying to dismiss? A trademark lawsuit from Monster Cable, of course.
Attorneys for Winthrop & Weinstine recently convinced Monster Cable that a product called “Monster Deer Block” would not cause confusion in the marketplace with its cable products.
There is a considerable difference, Winthrop attorneys argued, between a flavored salt and mineral lick designed to attract wild deer and Monster Cable’s electric cable and connectors for wiring household electronics.
We’re not so sure. They’re just so similar. We’d like to thank Monster from keeping silly consumers from trying to plug vitamins for wild animals into their home theater systems. Imagine the mess.
Inside Track: A Monster dispute is licked
[Star-Tribune](Thanks, Tom!)
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What about Monster Energy Drink?
@illtron:
Monster Cable’s lawsuit against Monster.com was discussed up higher in the comments. The Monster Cable link at Monster.com was part of the settlement.
Here’s the Wikipedia listing on Monster’s litigation: [en.wikipedia.org]
Oh, and Monster does own the trademark – they’ve been around for 30+ years. I don’t think the same can be said for a web-based job search site.
Good article on Monster’s overly-aggressive protection of their copyright: [www.sfgate.com]
Yes there is a difference. You see, the salt lick does exactly what it advertises.
Academy Awards
liar
Don’t give them this much credit. This is standard operating procedure for a dying company industry. “If you cannot innovate, then litigate”.
Monster is doing nothing different than the RIAA. Rather than adjust their business model (in each case), they now try to raise revenue through lawsuits.
@Carso: Yea they did long ago. I believe there is a link to monster cables at the bottom of every monster.com page.
rabiddachshund, “monster” is indeed in the dictionary.
So is “coke,” but if you don’t capitalize it when referring to food/drink/etc (or do capitalize it when using it as a generic) be prepared to have a nasty communication from Coca Cola.
Yeah, this seems silly, but trademark protection does have to occasionally go to extremes.
As far as I’m concerned, any word that makes it into a standard English dictionary before being copyrighted is untouchable. The only monster I’ve seen here is monster cable and they are a pretty pathetic little monster.
In Monster’s defense, a deer lick can probably transmit an audio signal just as well as a Monster cable.
@Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy: that is hysterical.
I can’t see how this CAN make it to court? Trademarks and “names” are under categories. Like Apple records. They couldn’t do anything to Apple computer until they did the iTunes thing (they were now under the same category – music). I don’t remember if they were called categories, but you can have something called Candy in food, music and automotive and they’re all kosher. Pet food/deer lick and audio cables… wow, that’s pushing it.
Thanks monster for wasting tax payer money for this silly suit. We should start a class action against them for frivolous waste. Didn’t they even go after cookie monster?
wow. the frivolous attempts to keep the retained lawyers busy never end.
What I don’t understand is why PetSmart and PetCo don’t do this to each other. I can NEVER get them straight. There’s one of each in my neighborhood and they are seriously identical to me, right down to the names and the color schemes in the logo. One of them needs to change their name. I sure miss the good old days of shopping at Collar n Leash (easily confused for the nameless? gay leather bar across the street, but neither care enough to sue).
By Monster Cable Products(TM)’s standards, the Children’s Television Workshop should sue them out of existence, as Cookie Monster predated the cable company, and Stephen Colbert says that since Cookie Monster has decided to eat cookies in moderation, that he’s just a “Monster”.
I ate at a place called “Monster Subs” yesterday and my first thought was “does Monster Cable know about this place?” because this sandwich would make a great speaker cable.
I live in the bay area where Monster is located. Those egomaniacs wanted to take on Pixar and Disney because of Monsters, Inc.
FYI – Deer blocks aren’t placed out to provide nutrition for wild animals. They’re placed out to attract the animals for hunting.
Place a deer block out, sit in a tree, and wait…Bang!