Is Monster Cable really a monster?...(long)

HDCowboy

Have a read and do some more research and you decide for yourself.

Howdy,

recently followed a link to Audioholics to read a letter posted there from Noel Lee of Monster Cables. Apparently this was in response to the bad publicity Monster Cables has been receiving over alleged lawsuits against various companies using the word Monster. Mr. Lee invited people to write with further questions about the allegations or with any other issues... so I did. I thought I might post most of the content here as I thought it pretty big of him to respond to me at all, and I found some of the information pretty enlightening.... I was curious about the Disney thing as well as MonsterVintage, and Snow Monsters (refered to at MonsterVintage site)

first a link to some Monster Cable bashing to which I have contributed...
http://www./voice/showt...93&page=1&pp=20

a pertinent quote from the article for those who don't wish to read that post in it's entirety.

"To ensure they are the most obnoxious company in the free world, Monster has taken an extra bonus step to sue anybody even remotely using the word "monster" in any way whatsoever. This includes job placement companies, online Halloween costume shops, Disney (for their movie "Monsters Inc."), and their biggest threat in the fast-paced world of cut-throat consumerism: a vintage clothing store."

My email.

From: HDCowboy
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 21:46:16 -0800
To: Monster Information <monsterinformation@monstercable.com>
Subject: Noel Lee...

Sir.

I read your response regarding recent negative publicity related to trademark issues and corporate usage of the word "Monster".

I noticed in your reply posted at AudioHolics that you specifically addressed an issue between your company and "Snow Monsters" where you indicated they "mistakenly portrayed that our objection to their attempt to register trademarks was a lawsuit, which isn't true. We have not sued Snow Monsters."
Would you care to comment on your position with MonsterVintage.com or with the documents I've seen regarding "Monster's Inc"?
Regarding your comments "We have been wrongfully accused of suing any company using the "Monster" name, and as being a "corporate bully."" The fact that you haven't actually sued someone doesn't mean that you haven't been a corporate bully...
I've read the comments from the MonsterVintage.com site regarding your issues over their use of a logo similar to your own, and from what the owner of that firm says, it sounds as though he feels "bullied"...
Interested in your reply, at your earliest convenience.

HDCowboy,
previous purchaser of Monster Cable products.

The reply
Thanks for your reply.

Monster Vintage used our “logo” much like the Nike or Apple logo on their site. They have since removed it and we have dropped our infringement action against them.

Also you can see of the posting on their web site below, that they claim that we are asking them to pay money, but the contents of the email clearly states that we would offer a royalty free liscnse. We also own Monster Trademarks in the class of clothing and t shirts that date back over 10 years.

I have also attached Snow Monsters clarification of their prior statements.

Thanks for asking.

--
Monsterously,

Noel
The Head Monster

I am unable to attach Jack Turner's letter to Noel Lee. It retracts comments he has made with regards to Monster Cable and describes an amicable resolution to their issues with no legal action pending. However; with no reply to the issue with Monster's Inc I wrote...
Mr. Lee,



Thank you for your prompt reply to my letter below...



There was one question I had asked however; to which there was no comment from yourself in the reply. Specifically, a comment regarding the documents I've seen pertaining to court proceedings with Disney, regarding MONSTER's INC.

I can appreciate your position regarding the MonsterVintage.com trademark issue. Unfortunately the trademark had already been removed from the site, therefore I can not comment on it's likeness to the trademark used by your firm.



I am relieved at the resolution between your firm and SNOW MONSTERS and would ask if there would be any issues with me posting the letter from Jack Turner at a couple of the discussion Forums I participate in. There have been numerous postings regarding Monster Cable's aggressive legal posturing regarding anyone who might infringe upon or pose a threat to your company's trademark. I feel some would be interested to read Jack Turner's response and that it may soften some opinions of Monster Cable. It certainly has softened mine.

Regarding MONSTER's INC., I find it difficult to believe that there could be any dilution, infringment, trademark or other issues that could damage Monster Cable; however, I would like to ask again for your comments on this matter.



Lastly sir, I would like to ask your comments about cable. I am curious to know how it is that a cable that I made using Belden 1505a coax, Serial Digital Cable, with Neutrik gold plated RCA plugs solder connected, would perform as well as the composite video cable I purchased from Monster Cable through Future Shop Canada. The price of my cable (complete with a PET flex braid protector) was $4.95 Canadian, including tax, with all components purchased at retail cost. The cable it replaced was your firm's


1 m. Composite Video Cable ULTV1000 R-1M EU 127166 $69.95 ea.


which I did pay full retail + tax for.


I would like to ask your permission to post any of your replies to my inquiries, and look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.



Sincerely,



HDCowboy.


Mr Lee's response (and nearing the close of this lengthly post)

Our issue with Disney is when we inquired before the movie came out, they would not tell us what it was about and brushed us off. We have existing trademarks in Monster Music and numerous other categories, which I have listed below that they may infringe on. When we found out what it was about after the movie came out, we saw there was no conflict, and in fact synergistic benefits for us to work together, so we did. Attached is some of the promos we did together, so there is no conflict there.

1) Disney and Monster did an incredible promotion together with Monsters Inc. 5 months in Times square and they promoted us throughout their launch of the movie. We did not know what the movie was about but when we found out, we saw not conflict, but joint opportunities. I have attached the pictures.

(unable to post picture sorry) depicts monster's inc guys and monster cable on a bulletin board somewhere... mutually beneficial advertising WITH Disney.

That being said, we will protect our trademarks that have taken over 25 years to develop. The trademark law requires us to police our marks, file objections when there is a conflict and let the trademark office resolve the issues (we don’t determine the outcome).

As far as the cable you made yourself, there are a lot of do it yourselfers. I am one of them who built speakers, amplifier kits etc... But when you say it’s just as good, I would ask if you tested it. We do HP analyzer tests on bandwidth, noise rejection, impedance etc.., which is why we have many levels of cables. The higher the better. But I’m glad your Belden worked out, you saved some money and seems like you got a good result. By the way, you can make your own Monster Cable as well, since we sell bulk cable too.

Our products are extremely well made, have high performance that we test for and we guarantee them for life.

You may post this and my other replies.

Thanks for asking and your comment.

Noel
The Head Monster

Our trademarks are listed below for your reference.

Here are the Monster Trademarks, that are NOT only Monster Cable in the areas that we do business you may not know about.


Class 9 (e.g. consumer electronics):

In class 9 we have the following registered trademarks, some which date back as far as 1978:

Monster
Monster Cable
Monster Power
Monster Music
Monster Batteries
Monster Car Audio
Monster Central
Monster Computer
Monster Internet
Monster Digital
Monster Game
Monster Home Theatre
Monster Lock
Monster Microphone
Monster Mobile
Monster Mounts
Monster Multimedia
Monster Networking
Monster Satellite
Monster Sport
Monster Standard
Monster Tips
Monster USB
Monster Wire America


Class 25 (e.g. clothing and apparel):

Tshirts, hats, and other forms of wearables.

In Class 25, we have the following registered trademarks, some which date back over 15 years:

Monster
Monster Attitude
I am a Monster
Monster Sport
Monster Design


Class 41 (e.g. training, entertainment & educational services):

In Class 41, we have the following registered and common-law trademarks:


Monster
Monster Wired
MRHTME
Monster Reference Home Theater Music Experience
M4


Class 16 (e.g. newsletters and printed publications):

In Class 16, we have the following registered trademarks:

Monster
Monster Wired


To finish I would like to say thank you to Noel Lee for his replies, but I would like to state that I still feel his product is a little too pricey for me... Not that it's a bad product, just that there are alternatives to Monster Cable.... like my BBNCC (c) cables (Better Belden Neutrik Cowboy Cables )

__________________
"Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside."
Alexander Pope

HDCowboy

those pictures Noel Lee sent to me...
The one is a billboard in times square.... (musta been some lawsuit)

Attached Images

	monsters.jpg (23.9 KB, 328 views)
	Times Square 2 small1.jpg (116.6 KB, 329 views)

__________________
"Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside."
Alexander Pope

Micmax

Seems like an upfront guy.

I'll tell you one thing...I'm more scared about expressing my opinions on Monster Cables after reading about their lawsuit-happy practices. But hey, if its my opinion that Monster's component cables showed no noticable improvement over cheaper component cables on my system - ain't nothing illegal about that statement.

SavoR

Monster Cable = Crap

Ratdaddyo8

Monster price--------------thats all

rockstar08

Not worth the price. You can get cables just as good at monoprice.com. The only way you MIGHT benefit from Monster is if you were running 300 feet of cable.

Scottnot

If you gotta do 300', don't even think about HDMI, that's not what it was designed to do.

tipstir

Monster is like the rest out there who makes audio and video cables. Just monster is larger and markets more. Their packaging is very colorful and a lot of technical visual images making their product sound like it can solve all your problems if you use it!

Stores get a piece of the action from Monster if they sell more and push the cables. I've picked up some Monster cables in the past. A lot of them don't hold up as well and if the dog gets to them well you're out of luck!

Folks you really don' t need to buy Monster cables or surge protectors from them as many of the other brands that are less will do the same job.

SAVE YOUR MONEY!

edders

and they want to make sure they get every cent of the profits! To the list of monster trademarks, they might consider adding: Monster Greed, Monster Sham, Monster Profit, and the best one...Monster Pric?s

Scottnot

mmmmm . . .

have they trademarked

"bend over"

and

"hang on, I'm commin'"

daleb

From a guy working in an electronics stockroom decades ago, he came a long way. But there are many success stories of successful businesses and people who started them. Which has nothing to do with how products are marketed and priced in relation to their true worth. Or suing for trademark infringement for that matter.

__________________
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