That’s right. Monster Cable sucks. Let’s try to not get into the highly heated debate of whether or not cables and interconnects in your A/V system can really make a difference, and talk about why Monster Cable sucks as a company.

I personally feel that their products do not represent good value (you can get better cables for the price), but lets go beyond that and just look at them as a business. Monster Cable has a reputation for what I consider completely frivolous lawsuits against pretty much every company in the country that had the word “Monster” in their title, claiming trademark infringement. They have filed lawsuits against some 250 companies! Some of the more ridiculous examples include:

• MONSTER MASH
• BOUDREAUX’S CAJUN KITCHEN, INC. (HOME OF THE MONSTER SHRIMP)
• Revell-Monogram, LLC (SWAMP MONSTER)
• MONSTER ENERGY DRINK
• MONSTER GARAGE
• SNOW MONSTERS
• THE CHICAGO BEARS (Monsters of the Midway)
• Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. (SCOOBY-DOO AND THE MONSTER OF MEXICO)
• Coleman, Steven T. (DOCTOR ZARR’S AMAZING FUNK MONSTER)
• Walt Disney Co. (Monsters, Inc)
• list goes on and on and on…

Snow Monsters, one of the companies attacked by Monster Cable, is a video company that aims to teach kids how to be safe and have fun on ski slopes. Looks like a clear cut case of trademark infringement to me. As is the case with the Chicago Bears. I would never watch one of their games had their nickname not been reminiscent of the all so great Monster Cable.

More recently, Monster Cable has decided to attack a great little independent cable supply company, Blue Jeans Cable, claiming that they are violating a design patent. Monster Cable wants Blue Jeans Cable to immediately cease and desist all sales, offerings, advertising, distribution, manufacture use and importing of Blue Jean’s cables. In addition, Monster wants a recall of the cables.

Here’s a comparison of the cables:

You might be thinking, yeah, they look pretty similar. Until you look at every other RCA cable on the market and realize they all look the same. Turns out, the owner of Blue Jeans Cable happens to be an ex-lawyer :) He was kind enough to allow his response to Monster Cable to be published. Here are a few of the more entertaining excerpts:

“I will point out, though you are no doubt already well aware, that the gross morphology of the RCA plug is pretty well dictated by function. RCA plugs intended for soldering and assembly have certain attributes in common;”

“You are required, as a matter of legal ethics, to display good faith and professional candor in your dealings with adverse parties, and you have fallen miserably short of your ethical responsibilities.”

“My sense, in looking at these five patents, is that either you are attempting to present some argument that I simply do not understand or you are arguing for untenably broad coverage of these patents which would sweep every functional aspect of the typical solder-assembly RCA connector within the scope of a handful of mere design patents.”

“It cannot possibly be that you believe that more than one of these patents is pertinent, and if you insist that they are, we cannot have an intelligent dialogue on this subject.”

“I do not compromise with bullies and I would rather spend fifty thousand dollars on defense than give you a dollar of unmerited settlement funds”

Sorry if that was too many quotes, but this is just too funny. You can’t make this stuff up. I’m so glad that Monster Cable picked on the wrong small business, and that this is getting a lot of press. Serves them right for going around trying to flex their corporate muscle.

So, given all that respectable innovation through litigation (A.K.A. litivation), I will never buy one of their cables again (I bought a few before I knew better). And I said that I wouldn’t get into the merits of “High End” audio/video cables, so here are a few links for you to read in case you’re interested:
Monster Cable versus Coat Hangers
Audioholics Speaker Wire Faceoff
TNT-Audio’s take on speaker cables
Roger Russell’s take on speaker cables
DIY speaker cables made from regular old power extension cords

that’s enough to get any budding audio freak started, and down the path of endless google searching on the subject.

[source audioholics.com via Gizmodo]
[source The Denver Post, Dec. 22, 2004]

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology, Home Audio — Santi @ 8:28 am