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MONSTER is a Trademark Bully -Just like J&J and Band Aid
© Cheryl Hodgson 2009 | Posted on April 7, 2009
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal chronicles the dozens of lawsuits filed by Monster Cable Products Inc. since it adopted the term for merchandise against dozens of others using the word “monster” for unrelated goods and services. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123869022704882969.htmln This is often the case of a school yard bully beating up on innocent owners with valid trademark rights but who failed to develop an intellectual property strategy, or contact and intellectual property firm to secure trademark services in obtaining a trademark.
Last August, I blogged about Mario Salinas, a long time client who was sued under similar circumstances by Amazon, a company which has forgotten the Amazon was and still is a river in Brazil. http://brandaideblog.com/?p=54. Our client’s first website was a picture of the Amazon River and his adoption of the domain was at or near the time Amazon launched for books. The difference was our client was offering home computer networking services! Little did that matter.
Monster and Amazon are examples of trademark owners gone too far. David Tognotti, Monster’s GM and attorney, was quoted in the WSJ as saying that “we’re protecting our mark as if it’s a famous mark.” They believe their mark to be famous, thus entitling Monster Cable to stop virtually any use of the word “monster” by anyone. Professor McCarthy, the trademark authority, was correctly quoted as challenging that statement, since there has never been a court holding on the issue, as is required.
Not to be left out of the fray, I have recently been sued by Johnson & Johnson to stop my federal registration of BRANDAIDE for this blog, claiming it violates rights in band aid. The Trademark Office approved not one, but two applications without question! In my case, not only is my blog unrelated to the goods sold under “band aid,” but there is another issue; the last time you cut your finger, did you say: “Honey, can you find me a plastic adhesive bandage, or did you say, honey, find me a band aid?” Stay tuned for more details!
Technorati Tags: AMAZON, brand equity, brand management, brand protection, brandaide, Branding, business, famous mark, Intellectual Property, Johnson & Johnson, Legal News, loss of rights, Marketing, McCarthy, Monster, News, Tognotti, trademark, trademark registration, WSJ
1 Comment »
April 10th, 2009 at 5:58 am
Great blog and the only one that I check daily. This is a big compliment, as I have been somewhat of a net junkie since 1986.
Good luck v. J&J!