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Monster Battle for a Monster Trademark

Let me preface this post by saying I’m a strong advocate of protecting your brand and your trademarks.  However, there comes a time when a company can go overboard in its efforts.  Enter Monster Cable Products Inc., a California-based audio, video and computer cable manufacturer.

Monster Cable Products Inc. owns 70 trademarks related to its brand, and fights anyone and everyone who even thinks about using the word Monster.  Not even Monster.com (who had to pay Monster Cable Product Inc.’s legal fees and include a link on their job search site that says “are you looking for Monster Cable?”) or Disney and Pixar (for the movie title – Monsters, Inc.) were safe from the trademark violation and litigation wrath of Monster Cable Products Inc.  Even the Boston Red Sox were targeted by Monster Cable Products Inc. when they tried to use the word monster in naming hot dogs and certain seats in Fenway Park, and the Discovery Channel was called out for naming a television show Monster Garage.  Even Energizer was attacked for using the name Monster Powercells for its alkaline batteries.

Other products that had to give up the use of the Monster name at the hands of Monster Cable Products Inc.’s lawyers include an energy drink, carpet cleaning machines, auto transmissions, slot machines, a vintage clothing company, and kids’ T-shirts with the phrase “Junk Food Monster” on them to promote healthy eating in kids.  More recently, Christina and Patrick Vitagliano were sued by Monster Cable Products Inc. for $80,000 and immediate cessation of using the name Monster Mini Golf for their new miniature golf business.

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, Monster Cable Products Inc. has won or successfully settled many of the very long list of lawsuits related to the protection of its trademarks citing “confusion in the marketplace” (the company claims it has fought about 190 battles with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and filed about 30 lawsuits in federal court). 

The result for Monster Cable Products Inc.?  A lot of bad publicity and a word, Monster, that consumers still don’t connect to the California company but that the founder, Noel Lee, believes has owned the status of “famous mark” for the company akin to Camel cigarettes.  Are you buying it?

Following are a few examples of what overactive trademark protection brought to Monster Cable Products Inc.  Keep in mind, despite the bad press, company founder Noel Lee, whose formal title, Head Monster, seems appropriate, does not plan to change the companies policy of protecting its trademarks vigilantly. [Read more…] about Monster Battle for a Monster Trademark

Oprah Winfrey Extends Brand to Her OWN TV Network

Discovery Communications (owner of the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet and more) announced on Thursday that a new channel with revolutionary programming, similar to the launch of MTV in the early 1980s,  is coming — OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, which will take the place of the Discovery Health Channel. 

According to Oprah’s production company website, Harpo Productions, the new channel is actually part of a multi-media initiative that will also include Oprah’s popular website, Oprah.com, with a mission to: “create multiple platforms for women, men and their families with a purpose and a passion: to celebrate life, to inspire and entertain, empowering viewers around the world to live their best lives, and by doing so, lift the lives of those around them in ever-widening circles.” [Read more…] about Oprah Winfrey Extends Brand to Her OWN TV Network

Would Your Employees Wear Mardi Gras Costumes for You?

mardi-gras-masksI often write about how important employees are as the ultimate brand advocates and ambassadors next to consumers.  If your employees are treated well and truly believe in your company and your brand, then they’ll talk about it, and they’ll influence others.  In the end, your sales will rise.  But would your employees where Mardi Gras costumes, complete with beads, masks and more, for you?

That’s what Harrah’s asked 2,000 employees to do at the company’s Showboat casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey as part of its new, corporate-wide  “Everybody Plays a Part” program.  The goal of the initiative is to make the consumer experience at Harrah’s casinos more social, and each Harrah’s property can implement the program as they choose — such as Showboat’s Mardi Gras festivities.

My question is this — would your employees willingly participate in similar activities?  Or are they annoyed when they have to leave their desks for the obligatory company events?  Would they wear Mardi Gras costumes for you? [Read more…] about Would Your Employees Wear Mardi Gras Costumes for You?

Anheuser-Busch Loses Trademark Battle and Budweiser Brand Name in EU

budweiser_budvarIn a what must be a painful decision, U.S. brewery Anheuser-Busch lost the right to use the brand name Budweiser in the European Union after a long legal battle with Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar finally came to an end.

Believe it or not, this article from Wikipedia does a great job of distilling the story of the highly sought after Budweiser name into a few paragraphs, and this story from Out-Law.com does a great job of describing the most recent legal actions surrounding the battle as well as the final decision.  Unbeknownst to me, this battle has been going on in some form or another since the 1870s.  This is a branding story I am not well versed on, but now that it’s on my radar, I’m finding it to be particularly interesting.

I’d love to hear some more opinions on this trademark dispute.  What do you think?  Take the poll below and share your opinion.  Also, leave a comment and give us some details about why you feel the way you do.  Know of more great resources to learn more about the history of the Budweiser brand name?  Share them in the comments section below. I’d love to read more about it myself.

Image: Flickr

Dell Named Leading Green IT Brand

green-factorAccording to a new study called Green Factor (a joint program from Strategic Oxygen and Cohn & Wolfe), IT managers and executives believe that Dell is the greenest brand.  3,500 CIOs, and senior IT managers in 11 countries were given 26 enterprise IT brands to choose from and asked to select the greenest.  Dell captured 30% of the votes.  Hewlett Packard came in second place with 26% of the votes.

The more interesting part of the survey is the criteria that IT professionals used to evaluate companies in terms of their “green-ness.”  According to the survey, IT professionals look for companies that have: [Read more…] about Dell Named Leading Green IT Brand

Lexus Loses J.D. Power and Associates Dependability Survey Top Spot – Three Brands Take the Lead

Since Lexus hit the luxury vehicle market, the brand has been extremely popular and closely associated with quality and reliability.  Those brand messages were supported year after year (since 1995) when Lexus took the top spot in the J.D. Power & Associates annual ranking of auto brands based on reliability (problems experienced by consumers after three years of ownership).  That is — until 2009.

The newest ratings from J.D. Power & Associates show the Lexus brand not only dropping out of the top spot in terms of reliability but actually dropping to #3.  So which brands stole spots #1 and #2 — Jaguar and Buick, which were up from #10 and #6 in 2008, respectively.  Bet you didn’t expect to see Buick there.  Other brands that followed behind Lexus were Toyota (who owns Lexus), Mercury, Infiniti and Acura.  And which brand came in dead last?  Suzuki.

This J.D. Power & Associates dependability survey rating is for the vehicle brands overall and includes all models under that brand name.  J.D. Power & Associates rates a wide variety of factors related to the automotive industry, and companies often use the ratings in advertising and promotions throughout the year.  Of course, we can assume Lexus won’t be releasing any ads this year that say, “Look — we dropped from 1st to 3rd in the J.D. Power & Associates dependability survey.  Now is the time to buy a Lexus!”  And the new tagline – “Beat by Buick” – now, that has to hurt the brand ego. [Read more…] about Lexus Loses J.D. Power and Associates Dependability Survey Top Spot – Three Brands Take the Lead