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Blog: Gadgets Monster Cable Bullies The Wrong Small Company
Jason Mick (Blog) - April 17, 2008 4:47 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 52 comment(s) - last by ShadowZERO.. on Apr 23 at 3:36 PM
Alright, what smart Monster Cable employee decided to initiate a fight with a small company headed by a skilled lawyer?

Monster Cable, known for its pricey boutique cables, which it markets to the audiophile community is no stranger to controversy.  The cable company markets the cables as having superior quality sound, but according to one infamous study "audio aficionados" supposedly were unable to tell the difference in sound between short monster cables and a short metal coat hanger forged into a crude connecter. 

While its merits are debatable, one hard fact is that Monster Cable has a penchant for agressive litigation.  It has sent letters accusing everyone from Monster Energy Drinks to Monsters Inc., the Disney/Pixar movie, of trademark infringement.  However, some its legal assaults are industry specific as well.  However, it appears it may have finally met its match in one small company, Blue Jeans Cable.

Monster Cable accused Blue Jeans Cable of ripping off its cable designs for Blue Jeans'  Tartan line of RCA-style cables.  Monster Cable sent Blue Jeans a cease-and-desist letter demanding it to suspend production.  Unfortunately for Monster Cable, Blue Jean's president, Kurt Denke was a skilled lawyer.

He sent a whopper of a response back to Monster Cable, dripping in detail, sarcasm, and legitimate demands that is sure to have Monster Cable's legal team sweating.

Denke states:
 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.
....
I will also point out to you that if you do choose to undertake litigation, your "upside" is tremendously limited.  If you somehow managed, despite the formidable obstacles in your way, to obtain a finding of infringement, and if you were successful at recovering a large licensing fee--say, ten cents per connector--as the measure of damages, your recovery to date would not reach four figures.  On the downside, I will advance defenses which, if successful, will substantially undermine your future efforts to use these patents and marks to threaten others with these types of actions; as you are of course aware, it is easier today for your competitors to use collateral estoppel offensively than it ever has been before.  Also, there is little doubt that making baseless claims of trade dress infringement and design patent infringement is an improper business tactic, which can give rise to unfair competition claims, and for a company of Monster's size, potential antitrust violations with treble damages and attorneys' fees.
The lengthy full letter that is released here raises many good points.  Monster Cable's claims are tenuous at best as many of its patents fall under products where there was significant prior art.  For a company with more junk legal threats than the Church of Scientology, there is a "boy who cried wolf" aura to the suit.

Nonetheless it would be unsurprising to see a lesser small-company bow down and kowtow to Monster Cable, fearful of the larger company's resources.  However, like any bully it appears Monster Cable has finally met its match.

I'm no lawyer, and this is not a legal opinion, Monster Cable could turn out to have legitimate gripes, but as I said their claims seem pretty tenuous and reek of just another chapter in this era of junk litigation.

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The whole letter is a good read
By MrTeal on 4/17/2008 6:13:44 PM , Rating: 5
It's always funny to see the little guy stick up for himself.

PS -
quote:
Monster Cable, known for its pricey boutique cables, which it markets to the audiophile community is no stranger to controversy.


Monster doesn't market to the audiophile community, they market to poor suckers buying a new TV at Best Buy who don't know any better and get fooled by the pushy salesmen. Audiophiles (usually) know better, although some have their own snake oil beliefs.




RE: The whole letter is a good read
By Enigmatic on 4/17/2008 6:37:12 PM , Rating: 2
A very entertaining letter indeed.

I personally can't stand Monster products. When my dad picked up a Kuro plasma wanting the best of everything, the best buy guy duped him into buying a Monster surge protector ($699.99) and a Monster HDMI cable ($109.99). It's amazing how they're able to get away with ridiculously overpricing all there average quality products.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By daBKLYNdoorman on 4/17/2008 7:41:49 PM , Rating: 2
Let me tell you how they do it... they tell BestBuy to order hundreds of Monster cables and to place them by the TVs where they are clearly visible while the rest of the HDMI cables are hidden along with all the other average cables. At the BestBuy in my neighborhood, there are about, lets say, a few hundred Monster cables while there are only, if not less than 10 or 20 normal HDMI cables. It's all in the marketing man... they have marketing schools for a reason.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By phxfreddy on 4/18/2008 5:33:09 AM , Rating: 2
......and BestBuy must get a percentage so their partially in on the gag.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By JB1592 on 4/20/2008 11:26:48 PM , Rating: 4
Of course they get a percentage. Retail stores don't operate for free. They make a percentage on everything they sell. It's called a profit margin. Retail mark up.

Generally speaking, margins are usually very low on end product and very high on accessories. That's why sales people are trained to push as many cables and adapters and converters and what have you with every sale as they can.

For example, they are probably only making a couple hundred on that $1500 TV they just sold you... but they're making another $40 on that $50 cable they attached to it. What you're seeing another $50 on top of $1500 they see as a profit increase of maybe around 20%.

I used to a work for a retailer that sold several forms of cable. Interesting things to know: The regular nickel plated store brand cables were generally more expensive for the store to buy than the the gold plated ones. I have no idea why, but they were. If I had to guess I'd say the warehouse was charging a higher margin on the nickel plated ones (many chain stores these days have a two tiered profit system where the company has already made a little money on the product by the time it reaches the store because the company warehouse that the store must order from charges a small profit over what the company actually pays for the item). More interesting, the Monster brand cables may have retailed for 3 times what the store brand did, but they only cost another dollar or two for the store cost. It went something like this:

Store brand nickel plated: Store cost $6.50, retail $15.00
Store brand gold plated: Store cost $6.00, retail $20.00
Monster brand cables: Store cost $8.00, retail $60.00

It was something very nearly those numbers anyway. I don't remember exact prices, I know they weren't even dollar amount like that. The rough numbers are about right though. Point is: A) profit margins on cables are HUGE, B) profit margins on Monster cables are REALLY HUGE. That is why nearly every major chain store carries them these days. Monster does massive amounts of advertising for you, provides a really flashy packaging and sets an MSRP that allows you to have a 700% mark up. If you were a corporate retailer, why would you not drink that Kool Aid?

Some things are more complicated. For example, cell phones typically cost retailers hundreds more than they sell them for... but they get a few hundred in "ring credit" when they sign you up for a contract (or renew your existing one). In the end though, in one way or another, any time you by ANYTHING the retailer "gets a percentage."


By woofersus on 4/21/2008 1:57:17 PM , Rating: 2
Similar story: I used to work at a Sam Ash music, and we carried a number of brands of cable. In the home recording market, much like the audiophile market, people tend to get caught up in gear snobbery and assume everything has to be expensive. Of course there are some people who just have no clue whatsoever, but I've seen some pretty knowledgeable people fall into the trap and pay ridiculous amounts for cable

We carried proco "excelines" cables, which are reasonably good quality, and reasonably priced as well. ProCo is the parent company that owns Monster Cable (came in the same box!) and the store cost to us was almost identical between them. The markup on the proco branded cables was 35-45 points, while the markup on the Monster branded cables was between 75 and 85 points.

I avoided selling them, because I thought it was a total ripoff, and I could usually just sell them two proco branded cables for the same price and get the same commission. (in pro audio you can never have too many cables)

It seems so obvious to me that no matter how many obscure differences they can list in the copper they use, the weakest link will always determine the quality of the cable. (cut it in one place only and see how well it works) The weakest link is always the solder joint. Unscrew the ends and look. It's the same stuff. Probably 60% lead or so. There may be some crazy high end boutique cable maker out there that uses all silver solder or something like that, but monster isn't it. Even the interference rejection claims are ridiculous. The principles of wound cabling are pretty simple, and if you have interference concerns, run all balanced analog or go digital. No cable will prevent interference if have 50' of cable running parallel with power lines.

All that being said, I hate junk litigation. I'll probably buy some Blue Jeans Cables now instead of making my own just to support them.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By Mitch101 on 4/18/2008 11:35:04 AM , Rating: 2
I have bought many a cable from Blue Jeans Cables and talked to them on a few occasions. They are awesome. Go Blue Jeans Cables!


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By Spyvie on 4/20/2008 11:16:08 PM , Rating: 3
I've never heard of them before, but after this I'll be looking for Blue Jeans products!


By ZeroGuardian on 4/22/2008 7:46:51 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah I work at Frys Electronics and while our profit margins are in many cases lower than Best Buy/Circuit City we still make a big slice off of cables. But it doesn't matter to me I buy all my cables at http://www.monoprice.com , best place to get quality cables on the cheap PERIOD.

I'm glad someone is finally standing up to Monster in this case. I'm sick of their overpriced crap. Same reason I built my own speakers, the margin on speakers is ridiculous as well. And my speakers will beat out just about any speakers under $7000 and I only spent $1200 on all 7 speakers, which included 2 4ft towers (2x8" W, 1x6" W, + 1" T - ported), a center channel (2x6" W + 1" T - ported), 2 ported surrounds and 2 sealed surrounds (1x6" W + 1" T). Of course the construction time and energy probably added around $1500-2000 equivalent cost but my out of pocket expenses were only ~$1275.

If your interested in checking out the build process I've got a thread on a forum that details the entire process.

Most of the pictures and so forth start on the 2nd page but if your interested its worth a read.

http://forums.firingsquad.com/firingsquad/board/me...


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By Arctucas on 4/18/2008 7:05:07 AM , Rating: 4
No offense to your father, but my PC 800 surge protector (with the $25,000 connected equipment guarantee) was ~$50.

If someone lets Best Buy rip them off, I would not necessarily blame the product manufacturer. And it is not only Monster. Belkin, IPSG, and others are typically sold by brick & mortar stores for several times the price you can buy the identical item for over the internet.

For example, I needed a USB cable for my printer. Most of the B&M stores I checked wanted $30 - $40 for a six foot cable! I bought one from a webstore for $12.

While I do not defend Monster Cable's marketing tactics, it it up to the consumer to do the research. If you get ripped off, it is generally your fault, not the manufacturer or retailer.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By Enigmatic on 4/18/2008 3:38:40 PM , Rating: 2
None taken. My dad is obviously not very tech savvy. Still, since Best Buy employees are not paid on commission (like Future Shop), I think it's somewhat stupid for them to push more expensive products on their customers. But I've never worked at Best Buy, so I'm not sure if there is some incentive for them to rip you off if you are unsure about what you are buying.

As a side note (that's kind of funny), apparently this Monster surge protector eliminates "static" coming from the electrical outlet and prolongs the life of your television and makes sure your getting a clean signal for the "best quality picture". Typical Monster bs.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By oab on 4/18/2008 6:49:03 PM , Rating: 2
They aren't paid on commission, but they need to push high-margin products in order to be given more hours a week. More margin earned = more hours for you. You need to be really good to get full-time employment there, and by good, I mean sleazy.


By onwisconsin on 4/18/2008 11:52:04 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
As a side note (that's kind of funny), apparently this Monster surge protector eliminates "static" coming from the electrical outlet and prolongs the life of your television and makes sure your getting a clean signal for the "best quality picture". Typical Monster bs.


Ha! I remember than when our family bought our home theater setup their demonstration. Completely forgot about that before you brought that. We have some of the monster cables too. Pretty sad that none of us (this was about 3 years back) never thought of just searching for reviews instead of trusting what the stores said...


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By oab on 4/18/2008 6:51:48 PM , Rating: 1
You got ripped off with that USB cable, a quick search for "USB Cable" on ebay yeilds dozens of results with the cable for $0.01, and shipping for $2.99.

You paid $7 too much.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By sxr7171 on 4/18/2008 11:41:23 AM , Rating: 2
Best Buy sold your dad a Kuro? This is why they shouldn't sell top quality products at trashy mass market retailers. I always thought that to get something like a Kuro you needed to find an actual Pioneer Kuro dealer.


By FITCamaro on 4/18/2008 12:27:40 PM , Rating: 3
Like them or not Best Buy does sell some high quality hardware. Not all of it is, but some. I've no real gripe with Best Buy but I also don't buy a lot of stuff there. Smaller items that are traditionally marked up 500% I get online. I buy mostly movies and video games there.

But it's fun to go and look around. Being in the presence of large amounts of electronics always makes me happy.


By Enigmatic on 4/18/2008 3:28:41 PM , Rating: 2
I don't think there are any Pioneer dealers in the part of Canada I live in. But they've been selling Pioneer plasma lines for a while now (or at least I've been seeing them on display when I've been there) at this particular store.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By Reclaimer77 on 4/17/2008 7:39:42 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
they market to poor suckers buying a new TV at Best Buy who don't know any better and get fooled by the pushy salesmen.


Too true. Its amazing people actually think the " quality " of a piece of copper carrying a digital signal matters in the LEAST when its only going 6 feet !!

Sigh..


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By Visual on 4/18/2008 6:50:41 AM , Rating: 4
Oh, it matters. It is not just "a piece of copper", it is often multiple distinct pieces close together that need to be shielded and insulated from each other, etc... so yes, there are many aspects in which the quality of the overall job matters.
But that's still not to say that a perfectly adequate quality cable can't cost a couple bucks.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By Visual on 4/18/2008 7:05:21 AM , Rating: 5
And I forgot to say, I do see your point about digital signals.
With analog signals, you could always find some loon that would want an ever clearer, pure and accurate signal, no matter how good it was already. There is just no such thing as 1:1 match in the analog world.
But with digital signals, there is no difference between a "perfect" cable and just a "good" cable - as long as there aren't any blatantly obvious flaws in it, the received data is 1:1 identical.


By Reclaimer77 on 4/18/2008 5:10:24 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
And I forgot to say, I do see your point about digital signals.


Yeah thats what I was saying. A digital signal will either get there, or not, it simply does not matter what cable you use.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By callmeroy on 4/18/2008 3:51:56 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Too true. Its amazing people actually think the " quality " of a piece of copper carrying a digital signal matters in the LEAST when its only going 6 feet !!


While I tend lie in the same camp as you on this one - I don't really give a rat's arse about such thigns -- price is what matters to me and as long as I get an "expected" level of quality out of the product I'm happy. So in my world a $50 cable and a $20 cable (just example figures) looks the same to me except the difference is $30. :)

However there are people in this world that would beg to differ with us both. There was one guy, he wasn't my friend - he hung around another friend of mine because they use to work together -- talk about an audio geek -- as soon as I saw this topic i thought of him. He swear up and down that the quality of the cables matter and there are minute details that "common folk" over look....

All I know - I don't have a movie star's budget and I don't need my home equipment to be approved and certified by SkyWalker sound just to watch an episode of Family Guy or say Band of Brothers...


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By Reclaimer77 on 4/18/2008 5:08:57 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
However there are people in this world that would beg to differ with us both. There was one guy, he wasn't my friend - he hung around another friend of mine because they use to work together -- talk about an audio geek -- as soon as I saw this topic i thought of him. He swear up and down that the quality of the cables matter and there are minute details that "common folk" over look....


I call guys like that " douchy audiophilles ". They really just think they are better because they spent more money, and try to justify it.


By ShadowZERO on 4/21/2008 5:20:35 PM , Rating: 2
Or maybe its actually possible, just like with every other part of human physiology, there could actually be people with born with sharper ears than most?

Forgive my sarcasm, but I used to know a DJ named Def Jeff. He would spin records all day, and he could really only hear the bass. You had to yell for him to hear you speak, and yet he was just as much of an "audiophile" as anyone I've ever met.

Point is, you don't have to have sharp ears to love and enjoy music. But if you do, it can be a great thing. Its "douchy" to be arrogant about your hearing quality, but even more "douchy" to not respect someone elses.


By MrBlastman on 4/18/2008 9:45:38 AM , Rating: 2
Worst Buy is just that - Worst Buy.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - you can pay 200.00 for a cable at Worst Buy or you can buy it from a few different good quality online vendors for 20.00 including shipping.

Your Choice. Your Wallet. Your Money. Do you like Worst Buy that much to give them 180.00 extra of your money so they can have more glistening rows of beautifully packaged, shiny MONSTER CABLE and lots of friendly, but pushy salespeople helpfully guiding you towards their best interests?

Up to you.

I say here here! for the little company! I hope Monster comes away from this with a black eye.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By callmeroy on 4/18/2008 3:42:54 PM , Rating: 2
I don't know where you live but Monster Cable certainly DOES market to the audiophile community. Remember the key word is "market" - this speaks nothing of if true audiophiles actually buy Monster's products.

However a great number of specialty Home Theater shops near and around where I live carry Monster products - and these are shops where the sales people will get geeky with you talking even about the quality and types of wood speaker cabinets are made out of and how it effects sound quality or the different features of a certain processing chip not to mention they sell very expensive equipment - surely not intended for someone merely look for "just" a surround sound system for the family room.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By oab on 4/18/2008 6:55:48 PM , Rating: 2
From what I understand, Monster "markets" to the audiophile community, but then sells everything they sell to the wannabe audiophile community (aka. worst-buy, radio-shaft) who the sales people can say "audiophile cables here, really good quality, 10x better (or something) than the junk that the TV/DVD player will come with.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By ShadowZERO on 4/21/2008 5:12:44 PM , Rating: 2
"Audiophiles (usually) know better, although some have their own snake oil beliefs."

I consider myself an audiophile, and a couple people have told me I might even have "golden ears", although I've never had my hearing tested to determine such.

Most people say they can't tell the difference between lossless like flac or wav vs an mp3 or ogg at 320+kpbs. Most people wouldn't spend 500 dollars on a pair of klipsch reference speakers. Most people can't hear the difference between digital coaxial or optical cables vs a standard RCA cables from Radio Shack.

I guess I like to have my "snake oil", and hear it too.


RE: The whole letter is a good read
By SteelyKen on 4/23/2008 7:27:22 AM , Rating: 2
Can you hear the difference between digital coaxial and optical?
If you think you can, I would be interested to know just what perceived difference you are hearing.


By ShadowZERO on 4/23/2008 3:36:19 PM , Rating: 2
No, just between those and RCA.
I've been told optical is better than coaxial for long distances because of price, and optical signals being more lossless over long distances than electrical. My receiver sits right above my computer, so I don't have that need.


By pixelslave on 4/21/2008 5:51:12 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Monster doesn't market to the audiophile community, they market to poor suckers ...


Technically speaking, they market to audiophiles who know nothing, people who think they are audiophiles, or people who wishes they are audiophiles ... Chances are the poor guys who know nothing about audio, and not interested being an audiophile will be turned down by the high prices of Monster Cables. It's the people who claim they know a lot about audio are MC's target audiences. I knew numerous people who insist of buying the most expensive cables and insist that they can hear the difference. I would give them some benefits of doubt in the analog era. But those guys now continue to believe in their religion even when their cables only transmit digital data. I admit that you will still want some quality built-cable, but MC? I guess there are really people who love to pay more to show that they have *THE knowledge*.


Happy Blue Jeans Cable User!
By Ashrac on 4/17/2008 7:13:03 PM , Rating: 3
I have purchased a few cables from these guys in the past, and I have to say they are very solid looking and feeling cables, work great, ship fast, and are cheap in price. Monster should be worried as there is 0 reason to buy a Monster cable (unless you need it temporarily, and plan to return it after your cable ships from BJC).

Even non Monster cables from a place like bestbuy or circuit city, a 3 foot hdmi cable will run you a staggering 50 bucks. It's amazing how much these retailers and manufacturers rip off consumers.




RE: Happy Blue Jeans Cable User!
By AntiV6 on 4/17/2008 8:25:59 PM , Rating: 2
The $50 monster cable is a 3' of the "low" quality cable.

The expensive cable in like 12' is about $200 I believe.


RE: Happy Blue Jeans Cable User!
By phxfreddy on 4/18/08, Rating: 0
By GuidoAnchovis on 4/19/2008 5:02:15 PM , Rating: 2
There is still a massive mark up on cable. It is the worst in Best Buy. at least in my community. A good friend was the manager of the geek squad and he owed me a favor so i got him to pick me up some cables (computer cables) with his staff discount. i paid $2 - $3 for some black light computer cables. when they cost $30 regular.

His discount was at-cost plus GST. Just for trivial sake i asked him to price out some of the most expensive ($300 12' optical cable, and other higher priced cable +$200), they would cost roughly $20 - $40. So just from my experience, monster isnt putting out super high quality, high priced, goods, just the same stuff you can buy anywhere with a fancier package and coating.

I bought a 25' HDMI cable to run to my TV for $35 online, and it works perfectly fine. I dont see a any difference. More power to BJC!


RE: Happy Blue Jeans Cable User!
By therealnickdanger on 4/17/2008 10:25:08 PM , Rating: 3
Thanks to the awesome Monoprice and BlueJeans, Monster can suck my monster balls.


RE: Happy Blue Jeans Cable User!
By feraltoad on 4/18/2008 1:42:52 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, Monoprice.com is awesome. Fair prices on both products and shipping, and they ship super fast. I cringe when I think of the prices people pay for HDMI and other cables in retail stores.

Once in Sears when I bought my 1st DVD player many moons ago they had optical cables for ~$40. I walked over to the "gaming" department and grabbed a optical cable for PS2 for $10 and I saw a look on the salesman's face that said he had never put two and two together on that one. I wonder what the percentage is between misinformed salesmen versus sleazy ones looking to take the unsuspecting for a ride.


RE: Happy Blue Jeans Cable User!
By afkrotch on 4/21/2008 2:53:24 PM , Rating: 2
I bought my PS3 and instead of buying the special "PS3" HDMI cables for $80, I walked over to the el cheapo cables in the audio section. Not only was the cable double the length, but it looked nicer too, while being 1/4 the cost.

Not like I'm going to get some kind of superior digital signal with the $60 increase in cost.


RE: Happy Blue Jeans Cable User!
By Zoomer on 4/22/2008 7:42:59 PM , Rating: 2
The quality of cable even when sending digitally encoded information is important. For example, it's better to buy thicker, better shield cables when said cable is 50 ft long. Lower quality cables may introduce sparkles and whatnot into the image. ;)

For the record, monoprice wanted $67 for 50 ft of 22AWG DVI cables. Yum.


Skilled attorney...?
By masher2 (blog) on 4/17/2008 8:58:36 PM , Rating: 2
> "He sent a whopper of a response back to Monster Cable, dripping in detail, sarcasm, and legitimate demands that is sure to have Monster Cable's legal team sweating..."

Err, snarky comments in a letter really isn't that effective of a legal tactic. While the response was certainly amusing, I didn't see anything in it to make a legal team "sweat". Certainly the threat of a monopoly status claim against Monster Cable is silly...despite their name, they're a tiny player in the cable industry.




RE: Skilled attorney...?
By SandmanWN on 4/18/2008 10:28:06 AM , Rating: 2
Its Mick... We see the sensationalism in every article and the rest of us are gradually becoming desensitized by the usual attention grabbing tactics.

But its good to see a DT writer picking up on what a lot of people have been complaining about for some time now.


RE: Skilled attorney...?
By masher2 (blog) on 4/18/2008 3:34:29 PM , Rating: 2
Well I agree with Mick's basic points here. Monster is in the wrong, and this company has a right to stand up for themself, and has done so in (what may eventually be) an effective manner.

I do think its sensationalized somewhat...but blog postings should have a bit more latitude.


RE: Skilled attorney...?
By SandmanWN on 4/18/2008 5:29:57 PM , Rating: 2
I agree with his points sometimes as well, but the articles are getting more sensationalized to the point where I just want the news.


RE: Skilled attorney...?
By MozeeToby on 4/18/2008 11:05:22 AM , Rating: 2
What's posted here is not the complete letter, not even close. The complete letter includes several legal arguments to refute Monster's claims (including that an expired, Monster owned, patent has prior art, meaning they knew about it and could be held responsible for their fivolous lawsuits).

It also includes demands for literally hundreds of documents which Blue Jeans Cable is legally entitled to if they are required to defend themselves. Basically telling Monster that Blue Jeans Cable is not going to roll over and settle, and if Monster wants to take it to court, it is going to cost them hundreds of hours of work.

Finally, there is even the semi-veiled threat of exposing Monster's tax shelter sham company. Apparently, Monster created a company on some Carribean island, sold their patents to it, and now pays huge sums to liscense those patents. This allows Monster to hide large amounts of income from the IRS since the liscensing fees count against their profits. This is borderline illegal and would probably result in atleast an investigation into Monster's accounting practices.

Follow the link, read the complete letter.


RE: Skilled attorney...?
By SilthDraeth on 4/18/2008 11:22:45 AM , Rating: 2
I read the full article, and there are a few snarky comments, but it does request a lot of information.

But as the other guy pointed out in his response to you...Jason Mick is a sensationalist. I find I do not care for his articles. The only reason I read this one through was the subject matter of going after Monster Cables.


RE: Skilled attorney...?
By Zoomer on 4/22/2008 7:45:08 PM , Rating: 2
Basically a very lawerly response: Do you really want to spend a ton of money on this, which you know you will not win?

Go pick a fight with someone else.


Great quote
By AlexWade on 4/18/2008 9:44:36 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
Indeed, the less my customers think my products resemble Monster's, in form or in function, the better.


I love that line! I nominate for the blurb at the bottom of Dailytech's pages. I too wouldn't want to associated with a company that knowingly dupes consumers. I tell all my customers that buy the cheapest cable you can, because with digital you either have the signal or you don't.




RE: Great quote
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 4/18/2008 11:43:06 AM , Rating: 2
Done.


Nice
By clovell on 4/17/2008 5:53:34 PM , Rating: 2
Nice post, Jason. I know I give you hell about your articles, but I really enjoyed this blog post.




RE: Nice
By nugundam93 on 4/17/2008 5:59:45 PM , Rating: 2
kurt, go give monster a heck of a time! that's a real cool response you slapped monster's place-where-it-don't-get-sunshine with.

oh yeah, regarding cow-tow in the article, i believe it should be kowtow instead.


Estoppel THIS!
By kyleb2112 on 4/18/2008 6:03:35 AM , Rating: 2
I'm officially adding "estoppel" to my vocabulary. I may even track down its meaning at some point.




RE: Estoppel THIS!
By Mortando on 4/18/2008 1:34:07 PM , Rating: 2
You'd better, or I'll kick you in the estoppels. ;)


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