Monster Cable Drops Mini Golf Lawsuit and Offers Compromise

Monster Cable drops lawsuit against Monster Mini Golf. Battle "won, but war not over yet."

Monster Cable filed a "motion to dismiss" the lawsuit against us (Monster Mini Golf) on Friday, December 12^th, 2008. “We believe that the suit was dropped largely in response to the support of the audio community, and the widespread internet campaign that exposed their tactics to the court of public opinion, and for that, we owe you all a tremendous debt of gratitude. Thank You!” says Christina Vitagliano, Head of Monster Mini Golf.

Last Friday, MC filed a motion to dismiss the case, but the dismissal is not an instant process. A judge still has to "grant" the motion to dismiss, and he/she is not scheduled to hear the motion until January 12^th, 2009.

If the motion to dismiss is granted (And it most likely will be) MC reserves the right to reaffirm the suit, picking up right where they left off at a later date that is more convenient to them. So, there is a possibility that this is a "tactical" move in response to the negative press they have been getting lately. In theory, they could be dismissing it now, causing the hype to die down and allowing them to get through the high profile CES and NAMM tradeshow events without incidence or embarrassment, then pick it right back up after they are through these events, says Christina.

“While this is most certainly a victory, it is FAR from over, and there is still much to do to truly stop the trademark bullies. Here is what dropping the suit ACTUALLY means.....”

Even if they do not plan on reaffirming the suit, they have STILL caused Monster Mini Golf nearly $200,000 in legal fees to date, in response to both the lawsuit, and their ongoing trademark opposition, and they have no obligation to clean up the mess they've made. Dismissal of the suit means it will never get to trial, so there will never be a judgment, making them free to continue doing this to any other company including our own, says Christina. In other words, business as usual for Monster Cable.

Finally, even though they have dropped the suit, they are still opposing our marks with the USPTO. Thus, that remains an ongoing matter which requires ongoing legal fees, time and effort on our part.

So, in short....while we have accomplished a lot, Monster Mini Golf is NOT going to celebrate this victory, or become complacent. Instead, we will take it as a sign that the public awareness campaign is working, and double it. We have relisted the ebay campaign to continue raising awareness and funds for the ongoing fight. Further, we are going forward with the public demonstrations planned for CES and NAMM. Finally, Monster Mini Golf is currently in discussions regarding moving forward with their countersuit against Monster Cable.

Now more than ever, is the time to really turn up the heat on Monster Cable and keep writing letters and spreading the word. Ideally, a judgment in court would prevent them from continuing to oppress smaller companies, but we at Monster Mini Golf cannot and will not stop until Monster Cable cleans up the mess they've made for us, which means;

dropping the opposition to our trademarks, allowing us to register our Monster Mini Golf mark, and Reimbursement of all legal fees, getting us back to ZERO, says Christina.

News Update from Monster Cable 12/11/08:

Head Monster Noel Lee just offered a licensing royalty fee of $100 per month per Monster Mini Golf Franchise (total of 23 so far) to use the Monster trademark. Monster Cable will also donate and match the royalty proceeds to the Elf and Seg4Vets charities as per the excerpt on their website below:

Monster has filed papers with the Federal Court to dismiss the lawsuit against Monster Mini Golf as of Friday, December 12, 2009. We will let the trademark office decide when they review their trademark application.

Monster will still own the trademarks granted by the trademark office for which we offer a license for the use of them to Monster Mini Golf for a minimal royalty of $100 per month per franchise. Monster (us) will donate and match the royalty proceeds to the following charities that Monster has supported.

The Elf foundation; Creating Rooms of Magic:
http://www.elfsystems.org/partners.html

Seg4Vets: Segways for disabled veterans
http://www.draft.cc/draft3/Donations/Benefactors/tabid/113/Default.aspx

Monster Mini Golf will then have the ability to use and franchise the “monster” trademark and continue with their business, and we will have continued protection. This will save thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees and the court’s time. Everyone wins.

To get the Monster Cable side of this story, please visit:
http://www.monstercable.com/monster_truth/

Also check out the YouTube video by head Monster Noel Lee where you can voice your opinion.