Monster Cable Playing with Fire

April 14, 2008 by Lukas Gilkey
Filed under: Home Audio > Wire & Cable > Interconnects


- Image: The image above is of some of the connectors in question from each manufacturer.

On April 1st, Kurt Denke of Blue Jeans Cable and Tartan Cable (a subsidiary of Blue Jeans Cable) received a cease and desist request letter from Monster Cable's legal counsel. It appears as though Monster Cable feels that some of Kurt's connectors are too much like their own design patented connectors.

Monster Cable stated that there were multiple patent infringements on the part of Tartan and that all of the products in question needed to be recalled. They also requested an account of the units sold and a report of the profits made from those sales. Could it be a really distasteful April Fool's Day joke? Nope, Monster Cable just happened to pick the most ironic day possible to deliver their letter.

Continuing with the irony, Kurt Denke (owner of Blue Jeans Cable and Tartan Cable) is the last person that Monster Cable should have tried to bully. Kurt is a lawyer with over twenty years of experience, some of which is in intellectual property litigation, making him the ideal candidate to fight back. Monster Cable has a bit of a past of being a legal bully and has been known to go on the attack against anyone they think they might be able to "persuade."

A simple clothing company named Monster Vintage came under attack just like so many others who have used a common word in their company name. Even more info about the sue-happy nature of Monster Cable can be found on the Monster Greed website.

With a past like that, Kurt knows that the lawsuit appears to be frivolous. Some research on his part also turned up an interesting bit of info, Monster Cable did not include a reference to an expired patent of theirs from 1992 that is most like the Tartan connectors. What does that mean? Well, it means that the patent is now non-patentable and non-enforceable, essentially making their threats unsubstantiated.

I spoke with Kurt and he is sending out his response to the cease and desist request today that will basically tell Monster Cable that their claims are without merit and they need to provide further information to prove infringement. From what he told us, it is probably in the best interest of Monster Cable to let this one go. If they decide to take it to court, he will be more than willing to oblige them in making this into a big ordeal. The bad news for Monster Cable being that if they were to lose in court against Kurt, this could potentially set the precedence for future cease and desist requests and lawsuits regarding their connector patents.

You can read the letter sent by monster Cable and the exhibits that go along with it at the Blue Jeans Cable website.

Source: AVS Forum
Source: Blue Jeans Cable
Source: Tartan Cable
Comments (21)
blueness 1 year and 10 months ago

Kurt's got my business.
Monster still owes me a TV that was fried by one of their surge "protectors."
As far as I can tell, it was a surge "augmenter" and produced the surge. I would have been better off with a generic power strip or extension cord.
heavystarch 1 year and 10 months ago

Monster Cable deserves to lose. Go Kurt!
frootloops 1 year and 10 months ago

LOL, I guess Monster had nothing better to do then to go trolling for someone to sue.

Give em hell Kurt!
Dave Kay 1 year and 10 months ago

Monster House, Monster Garage, and Monster.com (the jobs site) were also hit with suits. Who is Monster trying to fool with this crap? When you remove the various decorative collars, ALL RCA jacks look basically the same.
Neil Middlemiss 1 year and 10 months ago

Question for those who might know: Who sources the parts for these companies? Presumably Blue Jeans Cable does not actually build these connectors themselves, but buys them in bulk from a company. In my opinion, Monster should be going after the parts supplier, but it is probably easier to try and bankrupt a smaller company with frivolous lawsuits.

By all accounts from people I trust, Blue Jeans Cables are nothing short of excellent. Good luck to them in their fight.
neptyr 1 year and 10 months ago

Monster and Microsoft should team-up.

TEAM LAWSUIT ASEMBLE!
Dave Kay 1 year and 10 months ago

Only the really big cable companies like Cardas and Audioquest actually produce their own RCA connectors. Those connectors on Blue Jeans cable look like every other generic RCA jack I've ever seen on cables in the $5-30 range, like the Stellar Labs stuff, for example. I'm sure they all come from the same OEM that pumps them out by the quadrillion. Using a split-tip signal pin and a segmented return ring with various numbers of cuts is VERY common, and has been done for years and years. Why Monster decided to do this crap now I have no idea. I guess their lawyers got bored again.
Aleckxss 1 year and 9 months ago

You guys should read the response from Blue Jeans cable. Their president is a former lawyer.

I think Monster got owned in that answer

Here's the link to the answer from BJC
Slusbe 1 year and 9 months ago

I'd really like to see some heavy hitters assemble a class action lawsuit. Either that or just a boycott
Slusbe 1 year and 9 months ago

Wow, Kurt Denke's response = awesome
monster 1 year and 9 months ago

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=15768&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

http://www.monstergreed.com/Index%20with%20info%20about%20MC.htm

http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?qt=adv&qs=monster%20cable%20products&page=1

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?s=0f6dda3a05c0b4e78b0bc052b96d59a6&t=92519&page=2&pp=25

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/general/messages/366840.html

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-42599.html


www.madmartian.com/legal/

Please Email Them Your Thoughts

monsterinformation@monstercable.com

Tognotti@monstercable.com

iebaran@monstercable.com

dgraham@monstercable.com

GREAT FEEDBACKS

Subject: Response to monster cable & monstervintage.com
To: Monstercable Mr. David M. Tognotti & Noel Lee
General Counsel
Monster Cable Products, Inc.
455 Valley Drive Brisbane, CA 94005
PH:1.415.840.2000

Dear Mr. Tognotti,

I read with great curiosity Victors email regarding Monster Cable vs. Monster Vintage. I am no legal expert, and am just a consumer of both companies who is voicing his personal opinion.

I have used Monster Cables for a very long time. Specifically, I use your speaker cables as well as your RCA cables in my home theater surround sound system. These are excellent products of the highest quality that warrant brand protection.

I have also purchased vintage clothing from Monster Vintage a few months ago. I was looking for an authentic 70's outfit, and found it on Monstervintage.com. I was also very satisfied with my purchase and would do so again.

At no point in time during my research, visit to the Monstervintage.com website, or in purchasing from them that I even thought of cables, or your cabling company. In fact, the only time I thought about the two companies happen to be at this very moment, writing this email in disbelief and disgust.

I feel that what you are doing is akin to the bid bad bully on the playground, going after a poor little kids lunch money. It is appalling that you would use such strong-arm tactics and arrogance forcing a small business owner to give up control of his domain name, and extorting from him a license to continue using a generic name. I am so angry and disgusted at what your company is doing, I will no longer purchase Monster Cable products ever again.

A consumer who votes with his dollars,

Tim
Information Systems Engineer

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Note concerning trademark lawsuit Cathy and Victor,

When I first started reading about the Monster Cable lawsuits a few days
ago, I thought it was an Internet joke, but obviously it is not. I first
learned about it here
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php s=&threadid=214568
I couldn't believe some of their lawsuits; sueing Hannah Barbera for an episode of Scooby-Doo having MONSTER in the title!! The fact that they wanted 1% from your small company literally made me noxious. I am a salesman that works in a large chain store that sells Monster Cables, among other generic cables. Before today, I sold these cables and their surge protectors on a regular basis when people would buy DVD players, stereos and TVs. Starting today, I will no longer recommend or sell Monster Cable products. I will just sell the much cheaper, generic alternatives. If they drop all their frivolous lawsuits, I may consider selling them again, but not before.
Now, I realize that they probably will not miss a couple hundred dollars of lost sales a day, but if there are others that are thinking like I am, it could add up to a lot more.
Do not waiver!
Toby

Strong Armed by Monster Cable, Ripped off with Poor legal representation by our own attorneys but we still continue to Rock with Vintage Clothing at Monstervintage.com!
monster 1 year and 9 months ago

BoyCott Monster Cable Products Now !!!!!!!

http://monstervintage.com/Monster%20Cable/Boycott%20Monster%20cable%20products.htm

Lets Put Them Down....
monster 1 year and 9 months ago

http://www.monstergreed.com/Index%20with%20info%20about%20MC.htm
monster 1 year and 9 months ago

Got it do a youtube... that will kick there ass...

YOUTUBE
blotto 1 year and 9 months ago

Kurt Denke pwned monster. This could be a case of David and Goliath with Monster about to take a fall. With an attitude like theirs,they have it coming.

Blotto Green lasers rulz
laserpointers 6 months and 3 weeks ago

i think its because of April fools day. - laser pointers
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