Never seen a company so low

Stevdart, thank you for you post.  I agree with each of your points above.  I believe you've presented the facts very clearly and with an un-biased perspective.  Needless to say, my perception of Moster Products Inc. still stands unchanged.     Black Cherry

"Experience is something you never get until just after you need it."

Monster Cable is a Consumer Electronics company focused on making new products. Check out icruzeipod.com for the latest bitchin' car audio accessory for iPod. Of the few 'high profile' complaints about Monster - namely from Mad Martian and Monster Vintage - find me an example of where we haven't resolved any trademark issues fairly and to everyone's satisfaction. We don't profit from protecting our name, it costs us money, but by current trademark laws, there is a complex process that happens when someone files to use a trademark, and thre trademark office makes that decision NOT us. OK, so Noel's letter is posted on some other sites, because he cares about his company and his name and does care enough to have people like me spend a lot of time trying to educate people so you don't go off half-c**ked with accusations that are mainly fueled by two people who got pissed off. In the case of Monster Vintage - they were granted absolutely royalty free use of their name...and none of the 1% of their revenue BS...the owner of that site needs to move on, it was resolved. Bring me a new and current scenario to the table, that one is getting dusty. Noel is more concerned about companies like Discovery, trading off his brand, not small businesses. It's easy to imagine a well-oiled machine reaping millions in profit off of this, but it's just not the case. Trademark protection is part of business and Monster plays by the rules and cares a lot about both parties involved. This is taken DIRECTLY from the Monster Vintage website - do you see any 1% fee or cost associated with using his name? Yet the headline on his site says: "THIS  IS One of Many   LICENSE AGREEMENTS From Monster Cable And Have The Nerve to Demand  Payment And 1% of Monstervintage.com Income" - http://www.monstervintage.com/#monstercable And by the way - the owner was using our logo on his site to promote his products - that is what started all of this anyway....did you know that?  THIS  IS One of Many   LICENSE AGREEMENTS From Monster Cable         And Have The Nerve to Demand  Payment And 1% of Monstervintage.com Income  Thank you for taking time on a Saturday to discuss this matter with me.  I believe we are close to a settlement which will allow both parties to achieve their desired goals.   Here is summary of what we discussed on the phone today.  If we can get through the two open issues (i.e. Term of License, and the money you want Monster to pay you), I will have have a final agreement drafted for your signature on Monday.   -Monster Cable will grant Monster Vintage a license to use "Monster Vintage" and "monstervintage.com" for the sale of new and used clothing on the Internet.    -Monster Vintage will not have the right to use "Monster" on clothing items or products.   -Monster Vintage will cease using the "M" logo, or any other logo style or font which is similar to Monster Cable's.   -The term of the license will be for 10 years, with 5 renewable options at Monster Vintage's request.   -Monster Vintage will not be charged a royalty fee for this license, nor a fee for any renewals.   -Monster Vintage must continue to operate its website at a quality level equal to what it currently providing.  If Monster Vintage fails to meet these quality standards, Monster Cable may terminate the agreement after providing Monster Vintage notice and a 30 day period to cure.   -Monster Vintage will not file a registration (or attempt to register) any of the licensed marks.   -Monster Vintage may assign this license, if the company is sold upon Monster Cable's approval, which will not be unreasonably withheld, provided that the new owner agrees to the provisions of the agreement.   -If the parties are able to reach agreement on a license, Monster Cable will dismiss its lawsuit and claim for damages.   If I missed anything,    please let me know.  Thank you,  Dave David M. Tognotti General Counsel I think you guys should feel special on 12Volt personally - it's a good forum and a lot of Monsters use it, particularly our car audio guys. Jim

I think Monster Cable should work with TDC as a sponser of the "Monster Garage and Monster House " shows. They could provide the cables for the "builds". They would get some very good exposure. I know 2 diffrent people who went right out to buy MA audio set ups cause they saw Jessie James put it on the half pipe RV.  I know some others that got Audiobahn stuff for the same resone. They saw it on Monster Garage. Monster Cable could do a lot worse then be tied to the Monster TV shows. If you use my idea I want 2%. lolBig Dave

Forbidden - as stated above, we granted Monster Vintage FREE license to use Monster Vintage as a company name - you also made no acknowledgement that they were using or logo FIRST - that is what brought this to our attention. I respect your decision to buy and install ANY of our competitors wire, there are plenty of other options and that is your perogative. I just want to know what 1% are you referring to in your last post? Ask Victor Petrucci to stop deceiving visitors on his website that he is paying a royalty - he is not. Make your own opinions but that is the truth, guys. Jim

I thought I had made a post that made a mention of this. Now I totally understand where you are coming from if another company is using your direct name and logo, no doubt, we are on the same page here. You guys for years have had a stellar company but with the recent publicity and turn of events regarding this publicity, some major damage control will be needed. However, the "big brother" attitude that your company has taken under the guise of the rules and laws of the tradmark office, well this is going a little -  a lot too far. You cannot dispute the fact that you are going after companies that are not playing by the rules as they are written, correct? This attitude is well documented by a phrase like you made above. "we granted Monster Vintage FREE license to use Monster Vintage as a company name". This is all about control and that is all, you want and will under the rights of the trademark rules, guarantee that compliance will infact be taken to protect nothing more than a common name. In this case and the others that used the word "monster" in it's company name or descriptive element, you have chosen to go after them after being apprised of this by the trademark office. Who is going after these people, the trademark office or Monster Cable? Throw me a bone here and post the rest of the story, instead of just pages out of the book. Nothing can help you guys more than being transparent to the industry and the people who are in it. From where I stand the issue looks pretty one-sided, big brother.Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

Well said, Rob.  And I will stand by my post, as it pointed out one bald-faced lie...and that's all I need to find to form an opinion.  While the Monster webguy might call me "going off half-c**ked", and jstruckman says I am suddenly disillusioned and consider myself a legal expert (lol), I said nothing that wasn't apparent to everybody.  We have a highly flawed legal system in the US, and while it can be a PITA to some, to others it can be "the American Dream".