Monster Fight: Can You Tell An Energy Drink From An Aquarium?

from the tastes-like-bulls**t-to-me dept

Can you guess which brand is throwing its trademark power around with reckless disregard for common sense or possible confusion? That's right. Monster. Only in this case it's Monster Energy Drinks, whose legal team had apparently gone dormant after a streak of losses, rather than Monster Cable, whose legal team felt the average consumer couldn't tell the difference between an overpriced cable and a deer salt lick.

The Consumerist brings us the news that Monster (the Energy Drink) is looking to add to its streak of windmills tilted at, this time going after the Monster Aquaria Network, under the belief that somehow innocent people looking for a pick-me-up beverage are ending up with extremely large fish tanks instead.

Further details of the cease and desist order can be found at the site set up by the Monster Aquaria Network to apprise its fans and customers of the situation. In addition to insisting that the Aquaria Network immediately cease usage of the word "Monster" and the letter "M," Monster Energy Drinks apparently feels it has staked a claim to certain colors:

Monster Energy sent a series of demands including, but not limited to, abandoning the trademark applications for the MonsterFishKeepers "M" symbol marks as well as ceasing to use those marks in connection with apparel & accessories, refraining from using or applying for any marks containing the word "Monster" or the letter "M," refraining from using the colors black & green on any MonsterFishKeepers.com or Monster Aquaria Network Websites or in connection with apparel & accessories, and pay Monster Energy Corporation its attorneys' fees in connection with this matter.

Despite having used its stylized devil's-horns-and-tail "M" since 2005 and having registered this mark in 2007, Monster Energy still believes that it owns any iteration of "Monster" or the letter "M" in relation to... well, pretty much anything, I imagine. At least when it went after Vermonster Beer, it was in the same neighborhood (i.e. drinkable beverages). Of course, Monster was shamed into calling off its legal dogs after a bout of bad publicity and MonsterFishKeepers is obviously hoping the same happens here. If not, things don't look good AT ALL for MonsterFishKeepers, considering the legal system is routinely gamed by aggressive companies who know they can simply run their opponents out of money.

We strongly believe that the law is on MonsterFishKeepers.com's side, but MonsterFishKeepers.com will not be able to fund the legal proceedings that would be needed to resolve this dispute with Monster Energy. Unfortunately for MonsterFishKeepers.com, Monster Energy can file an unlimited number of appeals even if MonsterFishKeepers.com wins the first round of the case; in the end, Monster Energy would certainly outlast MonsterFishKeepers.com in the legal proceedings after MonsterFishKeepers.com runs out of money since there is no way that such a small company could compete with such a large company in terms of legal fees.

MonsterFishKeepers hope to expedite this public shaming via a petition at change.org, in addition to providing contact information for Monster Energy Drinks at its website. Hopefully, this will result in a speedy retraction of the cease and desist, as there is no way Monster Energy sincerely believes MonsterFishKeepers is diverting morons in a hurry. This is simply a bully wandering the internet playground picking fights and shaking down smaller kids for lunch money.

Filed Under: aquarium, energy drink, monster, trademark
Companies: monster aquaria network, monster energy drink

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

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

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.

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

Monster Madness: Monster Energy Drink's Hired Trademark Trolls Go After Movie Monster

from the this-is-getting-insane dept

We've recently covered how beverage company Hansen's hired a company called Continental Enterprises, who has a long history of abusing trademark law for profit (i.e., getting big companies to allow it to send threat letters to anyone who in any way uses a mark, even if it's clearly not a violation of trademark), and because of that, a small Vermont brewery and a beverage review website found themselves on the receiving end of legal threats.

Apparently, the monster madness doesn't stop there. Andrew points us to the news that that Continental Enterprises, on behalf of Hansen's and Monster Energy Drink has also threatened a working actor who was in a monster movie a few years ago, and had a photo taken of himself in costume holding a Monster Energy Drink. This amusing joke photo is apparently too much for the fine folks at Continental Enterprises, who insist it's "advertising and/or selling products that are confusingly similar to Monster Energy Drink" and demand that he cease and desist.

At what point does Hansens and Monster Energy Drink realize that in this deal to outsource trademark bullying to Continental Enterprises, they've done significantly more harm to their own brands?

Filed Under: actors, monster, monster energy drink, trademark
Companies: continental enterprises, hansens, monster energy drink

Monster Energy Drink Hires Trademark Bully To Go After Beverage Review Site

from the just-can't-get-enough dept

Just a couple weeks ago, we wrote about the ridiculous story of Monster Energy Drink trying to stop a small Vermont brewery from offering Vermonster beer, claiming trademark infringement. The whole thing seemed ridiculous, but now we have a clue as to what's going on. Against Monopoly alerts us to yet another, but even more questionable trademark complaint by Monster Energy Drink -- this time against a beverage review site. Writing a review of a product is not trademark infringement. However, the Against Monopoly writeup focused on the organization "representing" Monster Energy Drink and its parent company (Hansen's) -- and we immediately recognized the name from an earlier story. Continental Enterprises is a firm that gets big brands to give it the right to "represent" them in trademark issues -- and then goes hunting for anything that it can claim is trademark infringement, even if the use is clearly not infringing (such as a review site). According to reports, CE works (at least in part) on a commission basis -- where it gets a cut of whatever money it squeezes out of others. So it has little incentive to make sure the infringement is real. It just wants to get as much money as possible. I have no idea if the Vermonster dispute also involves Continental Enterprises, but going after a beverage review site is pretty ridiculous. This can't be doing good things for the Monster Energy Drink brand.

Filed Under: monster, monster energy drink, reviews, trademark
Companies: continental enterprises, hansens, monster energy drink