Monster Energy Trying to Shutdown MAD MONSTER PARTY?
File this one under “You have to be kidding, right?” Monster Energy has submitted a notice of opposition against the owners of Mad Monster magazine stemming from a trademark application opened in February 2017. While Mad Monster‘s owner Eben McGarr already holds a trademark for the name Mad Monster itself this dispute pertains to a newly registered application for Mad Monster Party, the popular genre convention organized and promoted by the magazine. Monster is now actively pushing for a trial through the US Patent & Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) seeking to deny the application in whole.
As part of the trademark process, once your application passes review, it must be published giving anyone who would be damaged by your claim the right to file an opposition. Generally notices of opposition may be filed within 30 days of the application being published. Mad Monster registered their application on February 13th, 2017 and published the application on December 26th, 2017 which put the deadline to oppose the filing on January 25th, 2018. With a mere handful of days left before the deadline, Monster Energy filed a request for more time to oppose the application on January 17th, 2018. The company then followed up with a notice of opposition filed on February 23rd, almost a year to the day of the initial filing. The dispute has now tied up the trademark application for almost 7 months and counting.
Monster Energy, which already has a reputation for trademark bullying and has topped Trademarkia.com’s list of Biggest Bullies for almost four years in a row and currently has the dubious honor of holding the No. 1 spot. Sadly this case seems to be more of the same. In reading the initial notice of opposition it is clear that the company’s goal is to block others from using the word “monster.” In the document, they cite the flimsiest of examples of how a consumer might mistake Mad Monster Party, a genre and autograph convention for being involved with their energy drink brand. If you are up for a good chuckle read through the filings and see for yourself. Just click on the “Documents” tab and then look under “Proceedings Documents”.
Any reasonable person can tell this is a bunch of bullshit, but companies file claims like this often knowing that smaller businesses don’t have the resources to fight a legal battle and will roll over. But in recent years several underdogs have stood up to Monster’s litigation and won. In a very similar case Monster Energy brought suit against Thunder Beast Craft Soda Company and then quickly tried to backpedal after realizing they didn’t have a solid legal claim. They offered a settlement which the owner of Thunder Beast quickly turned down opting instead to go to trial. In a statement owner Stephen Norberg explained further, “I wanted to publicly defend so that when other small businesses get harassed by Monster Energy, they will be able to research this issue and see that they have a history of doing this. And that it’s possible and fairly easy for the underdog to stand up to these big corporate bullies and defeat them if you’re in the right.”
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