Monster Energy Drink Backs Down Due To Public Pressure; Vermonster Beer Lives On

from the but-what-about-the-others? dept

Fri, Oct 23rd 2009 1:16pm — Mike Masnick

You may recall that we recently wrote about the effort by Hansen's drink company to stop a small Vermont brewery from offering Vermonster Beer, claiming that it infringed on the trademark they held for Monster Energy Drink (because any moron would confuse beer with an energy drink). That situation got a ton of publicity (all of it negative towards Monster Energy Drink and Hansens), and Brendan alerts us to the news that it looks like Hansen's has backed down. And the guy behind the Rock Art Brewery (maker of Vermonster) has put up an open letter with the timeline of events (pdf) -- thanking everyone for creating the public pressure that got Hansens to back down.

Of course, it looks like Hansens only backed down in this one instance. Yet, as we noted, Hansens appears to have contracted with notorious abuser of the trademark system, Continental Enterprises, who likes to send cease-and-desist letters to anyone even mentioning a trademark name. Just recently, beyond the whole Vermonster situation, Hanses -- via CE -- has gone after a beverage review site (which had a negative review of Monster Energy Drink) and an actor who was a movie monster.

Will Hansens call off Continental Enterprises from its abusive practices?

It's great that public pressure got the company to back down on Vermonster beer, but those other situations didn't get nearly as much attention.

Matt Nadeau, from the Rock Art Brewery is asking how we can continue to use the community that came together to help him to do more to protect other small businesses from the same thing. As a starting point, why not point them to these other abuses by Hansens and CE and get Hansens to back down? After that, it would be great to get people to recognize that we need serious trademark law reform that brings trademark law back to its intended purpose: acting as a consumer protection technique against appropriation and confusion, rather than what many believe it's become: a property right and a monopoly.

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Filed Under: monster, monster energy drink, trademark, vermonster
Companies: continental enterprises, hansens, monster energy drink, rock art brewery

12 Comments

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shmengie (profile), 23 Oct 2009 @ 3:18pm

madness!
i know this has been said before, but i'm surprised monster cable never went after monster drink. or did they?

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2749208832/tt0061931?slideshow=1
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2009 @ 3:55pm

Let's all send emails to Monster Energy Drink and tell them that their audio cables suck. Then send emails to Monster Cables and tell them their energy drink tastes like crap and we assume their cables are crap too.

Hilarity will ensue.
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2009 @ 4:16pm
  
  Re: Anonymous Coward
  Agreed, let's do it.
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Wolfy, 23 Oct 2009 @ 5:38pm

I suggest everyone that reads these threads and who cares about the erosion of common sense in Law, contact Continental Enterprises and tell them how you see their business impacting society. I did. Here's the email address: inquiries@ce-ip.com

Peace.
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Rob, 23 Oct 2009 @ 5:52pm

You mean
You mean Continental Enterprises is not a subsidiary of Continental Airlines or Continental Breakfast or Continental Army. Who is the infringer now.
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- Daemon_ZOGG, 24 Oct 2009 @ 12:10pm
  
  Re: You mean
  Rob, I would pay top dollar for front-row seats on a hill over-looking that battle scene. As much as I would like to see these scumbags drown in their own s**t, encouraging more infringement debris into the atmosphere probably would make matters worse for all of us.
  
  It was a great idea, though. ;)
  
  -cheers :)
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Vermonta, 6 Nov 2009 @ 11:48am

Couldn't Fenway park sue since the Big green monster has been there long before any of the other buisness's? ha just kidding. but seriously f*** big corporations trying to mess with the little guy
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Don, 18 Dec 2009 @ 7:59am

Well I stopped drinking Monster drinks after a near heart attack. My Dr. said Monster has high levels of Chinese chemicals that dont have to pass any FDA testing because its sold as "Common household cleaners" Dont drink any products with ingredients from china.
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- jon, 14 Apr 2012 @ 4:02pm
  
  Re: youre an idiot
  just because something is from china does not mean its unhealthy. also i doubt your dr. knows exactly whats in monster, and any chemical in any beverage sold in the US has to pass fda inspection
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kaaaarrriii, 28 Jan 2010 @ 12:41pm

hi everyone :)
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Bill Brissette, 16 Jul 2012 @ 6:41pm

And now they're suing a fish hobby website too!
Now Monster Energy Drinks is threatening legal action against Monster Fishkeepers, which is an online forum for aquarium hobbyists! It's so shallow.

Sign the petition to help the fish lovers!
http://www.change.org/petitions/monster-beverage-corporation-do-not-sue-monster-fish-keeper s-for-copyright-infringement?utm_campaign=share_button_modal&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source= share_petition&utm_term=23963867
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- Noname, 15 Mar 2014 @ 12:27pm
  
  Re: And now they're suing a fish hobby website too!
  Wait 'til BigBird hears about their claim to the letter M!!! I'm sure Sesame Street can easily dispute their claim on that letter...lol.
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