The Internet can make or break you PR-wise. After a couple of weeks of Monster Mini Golf taking its tale of corporate bullying to the Web, Monster Cable has suddenly responded, at length. “Head Monster” at Monster Cable Noel Lee says Christina and Patrick Vitagliano are using people’s sympathy to further their own agenda, and that Monster Cable does not like suing people.
After coverage on an NBC affiliate, at least three condemning posts on Consumerist, an eBay fundraiser for legal fees, Christina Vitagliano’s side of the story, the blogosphere in general getting stirred up, Lee issued Murdok this statement:
Regardless of what false representations have been circulated about Monster, we are not a faceless corporate giant out to squash legitimate business concerns and rising entrepreneurs. We are in fact, a family-owned company that relies heavily on our brand name and reputation in order to continue serving our customers. We have always tried to provide our customers with the highest performance products at an affordable price.
While we are best known for our cable products, we also manufacture high performance accessories in business areas ranging in home theater, computing, gaming, portable entertainment and power management. To protect these business areas, we have sought and been awarded trademarks for each respective category. In addition to the areas above, in the past 30 years, we have also expanded the categories including sports and other lifestyle ventures. According to the trademark law, we must enforce our marks or we will lose them and they will become generic.
We were trying our best to avoid the lawsuit, and we are trying our best to settle the lawsuit.
Though one might question use of the term “affordable”—Monster Cable’s products are notoriously expensive upgrades at electronics stores—and though one has to wonder if the term “monster” itself is already generic, Lee says his company’s protection of its trademark is no different from other companies like eBay (enforces ownership of “bay”), Apple, Virgin, or Amazon, all of which have names taken from commonly-used or dictionary words.
Google fought a losing battle a couple of years ago against the use of its mark as a verb and the entry of “to google” into the dictionary fearing the genericidal woes of Xerox and Kleenex. It stands to reason, then, according to Lee, that Monster would enforce ownership of its trademark wherever challenged.
Said enforcement presumably includes action against the Discovery Channel’s Monster Garage, Walt Disney’s Monsters Inc., and Hanna Barbara’s Scooby Doo and the Monster of Mexico.
It’s important to note that “action against” doesn’t always mean a lawsuit. In many cases, it is simple opposition filed at the US Patent and Trademark Office, which files 19 pages worth of such Monster Cable oppositions. This seems to be at the root of disputes about whether the company has filed hundreds of lawsuits or just opposed usage of the word “monster” at the USPTO.
“We have never sued the Chicago Bears. We have not filed 400 lawsuits,” said Lee, in a letter to angry customers concerned about reports of corporate bullying. “We don’t like lawsuits any more than any other company, and don’t like spending money on attorneys, especially in light of the current economic situation.”
Following that line of thought, perhaps that’s why Monster Cables must be priced at $100; litigation is expensive. If only these defendants would accept settlements and licensing fees, maybe Monster Cable could lower its prices.
Perhaps most important to note in this situation is, when it comes to public sentiment, the press, and even courtrooms, everything is reduced to narrative. While crying foul on the Vitaglianos’ “mom and pop” reputation—Christina Vitagliano admitted to Murdok they were no longer any such type of business—Lee attempted to debunk the narrative that Monster Cable is a bully corporation picking on the little guys who can’t afford to defend themselves.
“It’s important to note that we are not some gigantic corporate bully as portrayed. We are also a small company with a great culture, still family owned with 500 employees in Brisbane California. We are not a public company with deep pockets. It’s not inconceivable that Monster Mini Golf could exceed the reach of Monster Cable with the trademark of Monster.”
