Monster Cables Pushes Around the Wrong Small Company

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.'"

The word "owned" comes to mind

I read every word of that rather long article, and all I have to say is "OWNED". Wow. Normally I refer from such Internet slang, but I really believe in my heart that it applies here.

Re:The word "owned" comes to mind

Were Monster cable "owned"?

They're just going to harass someone else now. They don't really care that much. The basic business plan here is "threaten to sue", "threaten some more", "If target refuses to settle then give up, else settle". They know full well that some people are going to call their bluff. He just happened to do it in a very long winded, wordy way that has saved them a lot of time and effort.

Re:The word "owned" comes to mind

The long-winded and wordy way, combined with being released on the Internet, will go a long way towards keeping Monster from doing this again. The next company they threaten to sue will likely turn up this letter in a simple Google search, providing that company's legal counsel with a bucket full of ammo.

I would say Monster's days of running around suing competitors will be drawing to a close soon.

Re:The word "owned" comes to mind

My favorite quote:

Not only am I unintimidated by litigation; I sometimes rather miss it.

Good to see a little guy who seriously intends to go not only to trial but to final judgement against a big patent bully. They definitely picked the wrong person to pick on.

Re:The word "owned" comes to mind

My favorite part is where he obliquely mentions that if they do take him to court and try to bleed him dry he'll kindly foward along their sham company tax shelter methods to the IRS that they use to avoid paying income tax on their Intellectual Property. That's gotta scare the hell out of most companies.

Monster cable has been taking advantage...

In my opinion, Monster cable has been taking advantage of the lack of technical knowledge of the general public to convince people to buy EXTREMELY expensive cables, when much cheaper cables would provide equal performance.

Performance of audio systems is not heavily affected by cables, if only the size of the wires is adequate.

Re:Monster cable has been taking advantage...

They might have had some (quickly rebutted) case in the analogue era, but with the digital era they are just outright cheating customers. You can get an HDMI cable for as low as 15 cents [amazon.com], but Monster continues to charge up towards $100 for theirs. Obviously with digital any cable is as good as another, because the system has error correction built into it and is not susceptible to distortion from nearby wiring.

Still, on Usenet I've seen people who, probably because they already "invested" thousands of dollars in Monster Cables, placed so much trust in the company that they brought out arcane arguments that, yes, Monster digital interconnects are better than anything else on the market. After all, can't you hear how "brighter" and "warmer" the sound is once you've blown money on the interconnects?

Re:Monster cable has been taking advantage...

No, they did it with a coat hanger (At the consumerist [consumerist.com])

Re:Monster cable has been taking advantage...

No, the Consumerist did no such thing. If you read the article, all the Consumerist did, in fact, was quote a 4 year old post by a random dude on an internet forum.

That's hardly what I would call a reliable source of information, and yet people continue to perpetuate the mean as truth because it appeals to their pre-existing notions.

Re:Monster cable has been taking advantage...

Pretty much. Here's a good article that summarizes the state of "premium" cables.

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/the_truth_about_high_end_cables/C29 [electronichouse.com]

Re:Monster cable has been taking advantage...

Several times, and the physics of why Monster cables do nothing that plain wire can't do is well understood. Bulk 12 gauge multi strand copper is all you need for the highest end gear, and most people won't be able to tell the difference between that and lamp cord without an oscilloscope.

Once again...

Slashdot reposts a story found on Gizmodo that Gizmodo found on Digg that was first seen on reddit that...

Re:Once again...

Then submit it to /. sooner.

Plus, since when is slashdot in competition with them? If I want to read stupid stories (surprised all the legal talk didn't scare the farkoids) and even worse comments, I will go to fark/reddit/digg. I come to /. to hear halfway intellectual commentary on current issues.

Amen, brother, Amen

When digg first came out, I thought it an incredible improvement on /. as far as getting timely stories, if they would only get nested comments. But then the fanboys hit, duplications made /. look as staid and conservative as the New York Times, and I gave up on digg. Far too much noise for far too little signal.

And since then, /. has improved immensely. No doubt the competition helped, but I care not where the incentive came from, only that /. gets better and better.

From TFA

The best line of the reply has to be "Not only am I unintimidated by litigation; I sometimes rather miss it."

Re:From TFA

the whole thing is just a litany of pwn. this is the most badass response to legal threats i've seen in a long time; this guy has given even the pirate bay's collapsible baton gag a run for its money.

Re:From TFA

I love what he's doing but I said "damn, damn, damn" when he went on and on about about his experiences as a lawyer. Something tells me that might be the difference between Monster pursuing and not pursuing this case. Had he not laid all his cards out on the table, he might have got the fight he was looking for, and showed Monster they can't bully everyone around. Part of me is afraid that won't happen now.

But either way, I'm glad he's sticking up for himself, and not just himself but making it public. Others will catch on, I hope, and be able to use similar arguments and techniques to evaluate settling versus taking a stand.

Summary...

Dear Monster Lawyers,

The mention of similarity between my company and yours makes me throwup in my mouth a little. Your threats are empty and vague. You provided no details to your patent hissyfit.

If you're actually attempting to prove you own a patent on the RCA connector, then fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

Sincerely,
Kurt Denke

Re:Summary...

If you're actually attempting to prove you own a patent on the RCA connector...

Actually, they're not. All they asserted were design patents, which are flimsy little patents drawn to the ornamental design of the product. They're actually a sort of bastard child you'd get from a weird threesome between copyright, trademark and patent laws. You infringe a design patent by selling a product that looks like the patented design. It has nothing to do with the technology. The fact that they sent five (essentially saying, "You're too close to all five of these different ornamental designs") is pretty good evidence that this was just anti-competitive grand standing. They were just hoping that Blue Jeans would see the word "patent" and think $4M litigation and roll over and stop competing.

A shorter answer

I refer my learnèd friend to the case of Arkell v Pressdram [wikipedia.org].

This is exhibit "A" .....

... As to why patent reform can't come soon enough.

This sounds familiar

I am evaluating your claim that the connectors on certain Tartan brand products infringe Monster's design patents and trademarks. However, the information supplied with your letter is plainly inadequate to support a claim of infringement and so I am writing to you to ask for further information and clarification regarding your claims.

I will begin by addressing your trademark/trade dress claim. You have referred to two trademark registrations, and have attached some printouts from the USPTO system but the depiction of the marks on the drawings provided is small and indistinct, making it difficult to determine exactly what the alleged resemblance is, and I need further information from you.

This made me laugh. Monster Cable wants to initiate a trademark suit and can't send a legible image of the trademark? Sounds like something SCO would do...

The world needs more Kurt Denkes

And we need them in a serious way. People who know their stuff, know what the legal system is supposed to be used for, and stand up for themselves in a positive way.

I hope we see more small companies and individuals do this in the future.

When I was more naive

I purchased some Monster Cables for my home theater. Now the damn connectors are coming off my speaker wires. I took them apart to find out that connectors are held on by a shoddy crimp job. For what they cost they could at least solder them. The rubber shielding is even starting to deteriorate. Not worth the money. [gizmodo.com]

Ahhh, that was joyfull

I have not enjoyed a letter like that in a long while.

I think I have a new rule, right after "never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" "Never challenge a former litigator who misses his old job."