Monster Cable Blames 'Rogue Sites' Rather Than Its Own Business Practices For 'Stealing Good Will'
from the apparently,-trademark-lawsuits-and-$1800-cables-aren't-profitable-enough-any dept
The Copyright Alliance blog has a new post up patting itself on the back for its tireless efforts in pushing PROTECT IP through the legislative system. CA writer Sandra Aistars has joined the deceptively-named U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a series of "educational meetings and briefings to urge support for legislation targeting these so-called rogue sites."In addition to the expected "contribution" from the AFL-CIO ("online infringement costs jobs, steals wages, and cuts benefits, blahblahblah"), a name well-known to Techdirt has reared its astronomically-priced head to decry the global impact of pirated goods: Monster Cable.
Illustrating the diversity of jobs impacted by online counterfeiting and piracy, David Tognotti, General Counsel of Monster Cable, shared his company's story. Monster Cable, founded by a first-generation American in his garage, now owns 400 patents and employs 500 people. But during the last several years, the company has lost "hundreds of millions of dollars" to counterfeits.I'm really not sure what sort of "good will" these rogue web sites are "stealing" from Monster. Could it be all the "good will" it built up by suing anybody who dared to use the word "monster" in their own ventures, including entirely unrelated businesses such as a mini-golf course, an automotive parts shop and (although it dropped this case before it went too far) the manufacturer of deer salt blocks?
"Our brand is respected by consumers worldwide," he said. But "rogue web sites are stealing the good will we've built, and siphoning off sales."
The implications of counterfeit versions of those created by a company like Monster Cable goes beyond lost jobs and revenues. Counterfeit electronics are made in substandard factory conditions, and can contain unlawful and harmful amounts of substances like lead and chromium, he explained. Consumers have also complained of stolen credit card information, he said.
Perhaps Tognotti is referring to the "good will" built up by Monster's overpriced cables that are pushed via deceptive point-of-sale displays and contain incredibly high profit margins. While there isn't anything wrong with separating fools from their money, your product should at least be able to outperform a wire coat hanger.
If anything's hurting Monster Cable these days, it's the self-inflicted beatings handed out by its pricing structures, questionable sales tactics and general disregard for its public image. With the ready availability of inexpensive cables that perform just as well as Monster's, it's highly doubtful that pirated goods are the driving force behind any "loss of sales" that Monster claims.
(Another small note: if you have a whole lot of spare time, check out Monster's extensive list of "blacklisted sites" on its corporate web site. Topping the list are ebay and Craigslist. Apparently, Monster would rather you didn't purchase second-hand cables, either.)
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Filed Under: good will, lobbying, politics, protect ip
Companies: monster cable
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Monster/Licensing
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Obviously
;-P
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Monster cables are no longer needed, if they ever were
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Re: Monster cables are no longer needed, if they ever were
As long as the receiving end can distinguish a 1 from a 0, it doesn't matter if the 1 or 0 is distorted.
With analog, any distortion of the signal is distortion of the information. With digital, it doesn't matter if you have a distorted 1 or 0 -- as long as you can still recognize which digit it is, you have perfect information.
With that perfect information, you can make another perfect copy -- that has perfect undistorted 1's and 0's. That's why a copy of a copy of a copy is identical to the original. Information loss only occurs when it becomes impossible to receive and distinguish 1's and 0's.
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Re: Re: Monster cables are no longer needed, if they ever were
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Re: Re: Re: Monster cables are no longer needed, if they ever were
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Re: Monster cables are no longer needed, if they ever were
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Re: Re: Monster cables are no longer needed, if they ever were
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Re: Re: Monster cables are no longer needed, if they ever were
Think of it this way... whats the cheapest, thinnest, shittiest, unshielded, garbage, abused, often kinked all to hell, wire commonly used in very long, very prone to interference runs? cat 5. and with the right hardware in place on either end, you can push gigabit speeds through it without errors, and thats only got 4 pairs. HDMI runs 15 conductors. for reference, HD video runs at at most 35 megabits, double for 3d. So, theoretically and mathematically, through a single cat 5 wire, you could run 13 instances of hd 3d video with band left over, without error, lag, or distortion. Fuck HDMI.
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I make my own cables.
Does that mean I'm a cable pirate?
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Re: I make my own cables.
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MC Blacklist
b)Costco sells fake Monster cables ??? O_O
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Re: MC Blacklist
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!!!!
They claim their list is of sites that sell counterfeit goods. However Which doesn't sell anything - what it does do is:
"We campaign to get a fairer deal for all consumers and publish expert, unbiased information to help you make the right choice, whatever you're buying."
I guess they don't like honest testing of their products either!
Seriously this totally undermines their credibility.
(As if that needed doing).
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Re: !!!!
And copywrong morons have the audacity to say Protect IP isn't gonna be followed by huge collateral damage and abusing. Right.
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Buying cable at Fryes
As it happens, I was in Fryes last week to purchase some audio cable. Looking over the selection, all I could see was Monster brand cable. Even the packages that looked less flashy and more generic was, when I examined it more closely, a product of Monster Cable. I don't purchase Monster Cable.
I thought that this is Fryes, they surely have other brands, hopefully something generic and not overpriced. I asked a salesperson "do you have anything that's not Monster, because I'm not buying their stuff" As he guided me to exactly what I was looking for, he commented that he gets a lot of customers like me who don't buy Monster anything.
So, they may be "respected worldwide," but there are an awful lot of people (admittedly the kind of geek who shops at Fryes) who don't share in that respect.
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Truth: Isn't it also true that 1080p doesn't even come close to straining a HDMI cable so the amount of "quality" has no effect whatsoever?
Monster: *Runs away*
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I'd say:
"there isn't necessarily anything *illegal* with separating fools from their money "
Ironically fooling people, as Monster Cable does through its marketing efforts, doesn't mean that the people they dupe are fools, nor that they deserve to be ripped off. I think there is something *wrong* with what Monster Cable does to consumers--it just doesn't happen to be **illegal**.
Right and wrong aren't always the same as legal and illegal.
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Now I don't know if Best Buy pockets the other 173$ or if a part of that goes back to Monster or what. But selling, or allowing it to be sold, you product at 25x what the store pays might have something to do with why people are seeking out other cords.
As far as Best Buy marking that price up, monster sells them through their site for the same price.
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Re:
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Re:
50' of cat 5 at BB is was roughly $35-45 on the shelf. That costs $5 at 5% over cost. Now it will be $17-22
100' of 10 or 12awg speaker wire, $30 on the shelf, $7 at employee price. (and now $15)
I could go on, my GF works there, and we've bought quite a bit in the last few years.
There was a bit of a run on stuff before this went into effect, now all they are doing is driving people to buy stuff online. (Except for stuff that they don't make a huge markup on)
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Monster Sucks
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Re: Monster Sucks
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Other Pirates
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However, it would appear that Monster is complaining about actual counterfeit products here not about people just deciding that they do not need to purchase a Monster brand product. They are complaining about people buying falsely branded Monster products. They are complaining about the counterfeit products taking sales away - this proves that having questionable claims and being a jerk has NOT hurt their reputation to the extent that td claims.
What exactly do counterfeit products have anything to do with the things that td points out are the real issues?
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Re:
Read my comment above. They have listed "Which" as a rogue site. "Which" does not sell anything - it is a well established and respected consumer advocate organisation. The only possible reason why Monster could have blacklisted them is dislike of honest criticism.
It follows that you are flat out wrong.
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Re: Re:
If people are really purchasing counterfeit products then how am I flat-out wrong?
Sure, Monster, being the jerks that they are, have included every site they do not like on one list. That does not change their statement that 'the company has lost "hundreds of millions of dollars" to counterfeits' - which may very well be true given their prices.
It is you that got it wrong. Stop conflating unauthorized dealers with rogue sites.
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Re: Re: Re:
It is you that got it wrong. Stop conflating unauthorized dealers with rogue sites.
It is Monster Cable that did that not me.
Their web page clearly list the sites as "blacklisted dealers".
Since Which is NOT a dealer their list is incorrect by their own definition.
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Monster Cables...
If this is an outright case of some one stealing Monster's branding then they should be stopped. If you own a brand then it is yours. Period. You can license it for a fee or whatever but without the legal paperwork, using someone elses brand is illegal as it should be.
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Re: Monster Cables...
This is not about trademark infringement it IS about Monster Cable being a jerk.
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Re: Monster Cables...
However, I'm sure the mini golf place, the automotive parts place and the deer salt block maker have seriously impeded the Monster Cable branding somehow! I, just for the life of me, can't figure out exactly how!
I suppose Monster Cable should probably go after the actual manufacturers of these alleged counterfeit cables and leave the rest of us alone.
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Monster Cable: u mad?
So, Monster Cable, u mad?
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Makes me wonder who they *are* selling stuff to.
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Monster Cable is for stupid jerk moron losers
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Reputable retailers blacklisted as well
Maybe they annoyed Monster by pointing out that there were cheaper cables which were better than Monsters?
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The funny thing is...
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*snerk*
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http://consumerist.com/2008/03/do-coat-hangers-sound-as-good-monster-cables.html
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http://www.bluejeanscable.com/legal/mcp/index.htm
'Nuff Said.
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Burrrrrrrn!!!
I remember that, Monster, Pear Audio, and James Randi, the One Million dollar challenge.
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I wonder...
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Monster Cable is basically a legal 'scam' selling $1 cables to the uninformed for $50
Btw. has anybody noticed how hard it is to find cables that are NOT Monsters? Somebody must be paying somebody off to not sell anything but Monster. Now THAT would be illegal.
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If Monster Cable is involved...
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they contradict themselves
Howcome no matter what you search, ebay and craigslist come up at the beginning of the list? Seems like they have something against them?
I think they should make a more competitive product and maybe they would gain more market share...
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missing the subject...
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STUPID
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Re: STUPID
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Honestly -
There is a legit concern about counterfit merchendise being sold on third party sites. In the vein of "parting fools from their money," petty con-artists will buy off cheap, off brand merchendise and market them on sites like CL and eBay at "discounted" prices - which will still bring the con-artists 300%+ return on their money - as well as cheapen the reputation of the supposed company. Both CL and eBay do a good job of warning their users about this.
I would hope they'd go farther than just warning to something along the lines of logging ip addys and reporting them to the authorities for fraud.
However, tearing down sites like CL and eBay goes too far. There has to be some sort of accountability with the consumer. Namely, don't be a fool.
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NAZI AMERICA
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Your fucking gay
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Monster Cable about craigslist
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MONSTER CABLE PRODUCTS, INC.
-Frank Zappa
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stupid
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Stupid
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T
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craigslist is awsome
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$$$
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None accepted the challenge.
Why? Because what they sell is snake oil, pure & simple.
Monster is just po'ed cause others are cutting into their scam.
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Monster Cable
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HDMI
I don't see any difference between regular and HD TV...
So, do I need to pay $100+ for Monster Cables? I doubt it would make HD TV impress me any more.
Monster's list is an example of how this whole thing won't work.
First, you take down these sites and they will be back up in a week with another domain name and IP address.
Second, most likely every one of those sites sells something other than TV cables. Shutting down those sites will affect the products of all the other vendors. If I make flowered USB drives and sell them on one of the sites Monster doesn't like and has taken down, do I get to sue Monster for infringing on my business relationship and, effectively, putting me out of business because they dislike what someone said about their trash cables?
Basically, it comes down to this. This country cannot function without the Internet. When the RIAA/MPAA, etc goes out and kills sites, these sites can't sell products. The dead sites don't make any money. They close. People lose their jobs. They don't pay any taxes. They increase the burden on social services. And on and on
When the government looks at Monster's desire to throw a tantrum in the interest of 'anti-piracy' and they look at the potential for lost tax revenue, Monster's, and everybody else's, interests are going to take a back seat to collecting taxes.
This is one company wanting to take down hundreds of sites - sites like Craigslist and eBay. (Do they think eBay is going to be shut down because Monster doesn't like what its users are selling? Hell no.)
When you consider, once this gets going, there will be hundreds of thousands of sites businesses want taken down, you realize how impossible this would be to enforce.
Remember the RIAA once claimed the amount of money they lost to piracy in one year was greater than the whole GNP...
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Lol, Blacklisting Craigslist
Love that fancy branding Monster, sorry I'm not buying it though.
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