Tell them to get on one of their segways and ride it to Court. After which they can take a monster sized dose of aspirin for the monster headache they'll have after the Judge gets through with em.

cough *extortion* cough

if they'll agree to pay this "franchise" fee, i think that means monstercable can revoke that franchise license?

wow. I guess Monster cable finally decided that extorting other companies was somehow a better business plan than selling overpriced cables and accessories...how it is better if they aren't making any money out of it with the deal they offered is beyond me, but whatever.

I really hope some bully-hating lawyer takes up Monster Mini-Golf's cause and lets them take it to court. Any judge with half a brain would tell Monster Cable to GTFO.

You know, MonsterCable seems to be making good points here. They have a trademark. MonsterMiniGolf does not. MonsterMiniGolf is not a small mom and pop shop, they are franchisizing out their untrademarked name.

MonsterCable seems to be pretty reasonable. Why is the Consumerist taking up MonsterMiniGolf's side?

We should have a national "Name Your Business Monster Day," where everyone, for a day, adds the word "Monster" to their shingle.

"McMonsterdonald's"

"Macinmonstertosh"

Etc.

@Mxx: Perhaps, but the real reason is that it reinforces the notion that MonsterCable does indeed have trademarks rights over the word "Monster" in other industries.

This is so goofy. I think Monster Cable just wants Monster Mini Golf to turn this down so they can say "LOOK MONSTER MINI GOLF TURNED AWAY THESE CHARITIES".

And they're goofy charities. Not that they're bad charities, but if Monster Mini Golf wants to donate $100(*22) to charity each month they should not need to funnel it through Monster Cable and have them decide who can get it.

Ah, I see - but the $100 is a royalty Monster Mini Golf would pay to use the name, hence saying Monster Cable is right, and could change that royalty rate any time in the future. It's a trap!

Isn't that nice of monster...sheesh. How about this? How about monster donates $100 in the name of monsterminigolf with the hope that monsterminigolf will then donate whatever it feels like to a charity of their choosing?

Or how about monster realizes just how ridiculous this crusade against anyone who dares utter the word monster. How long will it take them to file suit against me for making this post?

Oh, and if a monster rep happens to read this. I would have never heard of monsterminigolf until this story broke...you are responsible for the dilution of your name...not other non-related businesses.

I hope they will drag this cable company into courtroom. This is insulting.

@Mxx: Yes they can.

Olive branch, my @ss. More like a cactus stuffed in the backside of golf's company.

Fuck off, Monster. Notice how they want $100 per month per franchise from the golf company, but will only donate $100 per month to charity, regardless of how much they're raking in from this.

Screw you, Monster. This is hideously unethical and has no basis in law.

God, I hope they do not accept such trash. Monster is stilling trying to steal a trademark they do not use from Monster minigolf. And thinks that by donating the money they are stealing to charity, that makes it OK.

@BillyShears:

And as a court of competent jurisdiction hopefully set Monster cable up for a fall. Should they win, they make EVERY subsequent case harder for Monster cable to win. Hopefully they ask for a judgment regardless, but at the very least I hope Monster cable leaves them the f*ck alone.

@Sockatume: Check again, it says "per franchise" for the donation as well.

Yep-

Cue Admiral Akbar- It's a trap.

MMG would be admitting infrigement. Monster Cable could change it's tune later, and MMG would be hard pressed to defend itself.

So how does monster.com feel about this retarded crap? This whole story is full of so much damn stupid I can't even cope.

@dartmouth05: Don't Feed The Trolls.

Yon know, I was never against overpricing of Monster cables. They can price whatever market bears, smart consumers will skip the price-tag. That is capitalism at work.

However, since I've heard about all sue-happy lawyers from Monster cables, I try to spread the words on how crooked this brand become.

I don't approve bullying.

@dartmouth05:

Perchance because how the f*ck can you confuse a cable supplier with a mini-golf franchise?

Monster cable is one of those annoying leech companies that finds business that are doing ok, happen to have "Monster" in the name, and proceed to try and terrify them with legal bills unless they pony up.

Personally I'm debating changing my company name to "Monster" something. They'll see dollar signs, not my uncle that would do the legal work in return for the proceeds of the counter suit which would probably ask for everything, including the bathroom sink.

Hopefully Monster Mini-Golf is represented by this guy:

@dartmouth05: No. No they're not reasonable. The word "monster" is a widely used word, and, on it's own, can't be trademarked. That's like trying to trademark the word "dollar" and expecting royalties every time the government prints money. It doesn't fly. If a company came along named MonstAr Cables, yea, monster cables would have a legitimate reason to sick the lawyers on them. Monster minigolf is not creating any sort of confusion, or stealing any business from monster cables. To even imply that Monster Minigolf is hurting them in any way is absurd.

@docrice: This is an attorney's idea of a win/win. Monster gets to come out smelling like a rose because they don't actually keep any of the fees - they all go to a charity that is deemed appropriate by both parties. The Mini Golf people get to continue to operate as they would normally, but they concede to Monster and drop their suit, which is a terrible thing to do.

Where is the loophole saying Monster can still put those people out of business? It's there, but I can't see it. (Yet)

@keith4298: They're gonna need some serious cash to go to court. I hope they do, though. Monster deserves to get their "olive branch" shoved up their @$$.

@dartmouth05: Because it's David versus Goliath, and if you follow the assorted tales of other companies (even with trademarked names) that have had to go up against Monster in the past, you would see a pattern of frivolous suits and litigation all for the purpose of trying to keep anyone from using 'Monster' in their name, regardless of product or service, application or purpose.

The Mini Golf operation started off small - most companies do - but as they became sucessful they appeared as a blip on the Monster radar. Now it's either they pay $250,000 in legal fees to fight this, let it go and pay Monster Cable for the rights to a name they have already been using which hasn't and shouldn't be confused with audio / visual products or agree to this half-assed solution offered by Monster's attorney as a "win/win".

I dunno, I'm split on this one. If they do own the trademark "Monster" (which they do), then they HAVE to defend the trademark or the Trademark Office WILL take it away. It would be like someone calling themselves the "PepsiMiniGolf" - Pepsi would sue 'em just as Monster did.

On the other hand, "Monster" is such a generic word that I feel it shouldn't be trademarked in the first place.. It would be like trademarking the word "love" (Hey, every time you tell your spouse "I love you", you owe me a quarter!).

So I dunno. I'd leave it up to a judge/jury.

@dartmouth05: I wrote out a whole response to your post, but then saw that What The Geek had said the same thing, only better.

Uh - Monster Cable's page lists their registered trademarks, and I'm not seeing any categories that should even remotely apply to a mini golf franchise.

Which of their trademarks exactly did they think would be diluted? Has anyone seen?

So they are publicly putting forth their argument that their trademark is being infringed using a domain that APPROPRIATES MONSTERMINIGOLF'S NAME.

That's chutzpah.

@bball123h: Apparently I don't know how to post video. Dang it.

I sincerely hope that all the negative PR monster cable is getting itself over stuff like this helps to drive them into the ground, never to be heard from again. I would love nothing more than to hear that moster cable has gone bankrupt.

@azzy: Of course it is a trap, and you hit the nail on the head that refusal to agree to donating to charity could be seen as unethical or immoral on the part of Monster Mini Golf. Monster Cable has seen the case now to go to the court of public opinion and they know that a mob cannot be easily swayed. They have to try and put a stop to it now, rather than later, to stand a chance of beating them simply because they have more plentiful resources. (Money)

Take away the money, and I believe legally Monster Cable doesn't have a leg to stand on. Besides, if there was ever going to be confusion between Monster Cable and another company, it would be with my local trash collection service. They deal with garbage all day long.

I went to MonsterMiniGolf looking to buy some cables and gosh darnit it was a mini golf establishment!! I was so the upset!

Hey with a cruddy economy people are actually doing research into their electronics purchases.
I bet Monster fears that when people realize how ridiculously overpriced their cables are they might actually have to get competitive.

Suing is a far easier way to make money.

@azzy: I can think of a hundred charities that would have a much greater impact than these two.....

@dartmouth05: You cant trademark the name "Monster" (its too common, and as such the only trademark Monster Cable as is "Monster Cable." Thus they have absolutely no case to go against any other company unless that company it's self is called "Monster Cable" and even then only if the company sells cables or can in some way be confused with Monster Cable.

You have to understand here, Monster Cable has been doing this for YEARS now, and none of their targets have had anything remotely to do with Monster Cable or cabling in general. They are trying to say they have a trademark on Monster, which is completely false.

its extortion plane and simple, which is why they have been going after small businesses and not against places like Monster.com who could crush them.

I read through those categories as well. The only one I think they might be referring to is Entertainment. But that's pretty broad.

Will they sue the creator of the song Monster Mash? I was entertained by that when I was 10.

MonsterCable lawyers and it's president are still a$$holes.

They are willing to drop the case if the mini-golf company pays them $100/month per franchise? That sounds like extortion to me. The name of the mini-golf company is "Monster Mini Golf". It is not named "MonsterCable Mini Golf".
They should these companies alone unless, of course, they actually use MonsterCable in their name.

It's a shame that a company is so greedy, it insists on using the court system in this way. I can't wait until a judge with an ounce of common sense finally throws out their lawsuits.

I continue to tell everyone I know to never buy anything with the Monster Cable logo on it.

I love it how in their official explanation email, Monster cites them being a private, family-owned company as somehow making them out to be "better" than your typical business. I love it whenever a business makes that tired argument as their defense -- "we're family owned". Hell, the mafia is "family owned and run" as well.

I notice these jerks are not taking on monster.com.

@Jim Topoleski: Actually they did have a little spat w/ monster.com a little while back. Go to monster.com, and scroll allllll the way down to the bottom to see the results of that fiasco.

I had e-mail correspondence with Noel Lee. He's always talking about defending the Monster brand name. So, why isn't her going after Capcom USA for their game Monster Hunter?

Could it be that Capcom a large company that could pound him into the dirt?

@Heyref: I know! I imagine that Monster cable would love to have that domain. Maybe Monster.com should sue Monster Cable for trademark infringement, since they are both technology companies.

@What The Geek: You have GOT to b kidding me.... I really wish there was a way to revoke trademarks on trademark abusing companies. I know it is possible but like revoking patents really convoluted and difficult.

This is so stupid, they are different enough - hopefully a judge will laugh and throw it out.

Poor MonsterMinigolf

I sat down to write monster cable a detailed email, but what wound up getting sent simply said

"regarding your frivalous lawsuits: You can't trademark the word "Monster", and I hope you collectively choke on fire."

Ironically, I went to buy some golf balls the other day on the Monstercable.com website and couldn't get any.... WTF? I am so confused.

@fargle: I think they specifically mentioned "Monster Game" in a previous posting.

BTW BB has a sale on 8' Monster HDMI cable and now it's a steal at only $175!

[www.bestbuy.com]
(read the customer review by bd251lps, funny)

My $6 (shipped) Amazon HDMI cable works great.

Monster is one of few companies I truly hate.