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Monster Cables Pushes Around the Wrong Small Company

Posted by Zonk on from the keeps-the-electricity-demons-out dept.

Alien54 writes "Audioholics has a fun read regarding a recent legal dustup involving Monster Cables. The well-known (some might say notorious) cabling company sent a cease and desist letter to Blue Jeans Cable over a supposed patent violation. What the Monster folks couldn't have known was that Blue Jeans president Kurt Denke used to be a lawyer. His response is as humorous as it is thorough. ' Let me begin by stating, without equivocation, that I have no interest whatsoever in infringing upon any intellectual property belonging to Monster Cable. Indeed, the less my customers think my products resemble Monster's, in form or in function, the better ... If there is more than one such connector design in actual use by Monster Cable as to which appropriation of trade dress is alleged, of course, I will require this information for each and every such design. On the basis of what I have seen, both in the USPTO documents you have sent and the actual appearance of Monster Cable connectors which I have observed in use in commerce, it does not appear to me that Monster Cable is in a position to advance a nonfrivolous claim for infringement of these marks.'"

3 of 572 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Monster Clowns by Dog-Cow · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Libs vote for candidates who make them feel good. Consrvs vote for candidates who will solve problems we face. You misspelled excerbate.
  2. Barely compares to Pear Audio by emkman · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Think Monster is expensive?

    http://www.pearcable.com/

    Anjou Speaker Cable
    3 foot pair - $2750
    8 foot pair - $5250
    12 foot pair - $7250

    You can start laughing/crying now.

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    Moderation Totals: Flamebait=2, Troll=1, Redundant=1, Insightful=6, Overrated=1, Underrated=1, Total=12. (not mine)
  3. Re:The word "owned" comes to mind by stbill79 · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    I agree with the sentiment. Unfortunately, as an Engineer myself, I can recognize a purposefully obfuscated API when I see one. Not to bring in a little Microsoft bashing in a completely unrelated topic, but this is exactly why the ODF vs OOXML debate is so clearly seen for what it is - rigged to benefit some at the expense of others.

    Whether it's a multi-thousand page open specification for what should be a simple doc format, or an even larger and more confusing tax code that only specialized lawyers can understand is not the point. Instead, it is just one more case of the already wealthy, advantaged, and powere advantaging off an uneven playing field. Not uncommon at all in the modern US.