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[Spyxos]

Monster Energy is on a mission to keep the word monster exclusively to themselves. This time, the energy drink company is attempting to sue an indie game developer for using the word “monster” in its game title.

Glowstick Entertainment is under attack from Monster Energy over the title of its latest game, Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals. Monster Energy has stated that the developer cannot use the word “monster” or even variations of the word, including “monstrous” and “monstrosity.”


Glowstick Entertainment took to Twitter to accuse Monster Energy of “ridiculous trademark trolling,” responding that “nobody owns the word ‘monster.'”



Within the fine print of the non-negotiable terms that were sent to the developer, nobody is allowed to trademark something with the word “monster,” “beast,” or “unleash.” Using the word “monster” alone is not allowed nor is using any font or images that look similar to Monster Energy’s own.

The comments were all from gamers in agreement that Monster Energy can’t sue anyone for using the word “monster,” asking when would it even end. Some gamers noted that there are many other games with the word “monster” in the title.

But this actually isn’t the first time that Monster Energy has sued a company for using “monster” so don’t give them any ideas.

Monster Energy on a rampage after Pokémon lawsuit​

In Japan, Pokémon has the nickname Pocket Monster. Monster!? Not allowed, according to Monster Energy. Capcom was also sued by Monster Energy for its game Monster Hunter.

Both of these shocking lawsuits appear on a site called J-PlatPat, a Japanese site that contains a digital library of trademark-related filings. Just on this site alone, one reporter was able to find 130 trademark objections made by Monster Energy, including the ones against Pokémon and then Capcom for Monster Hunter.

While Monster Energy claimed that Monster Hunter and Pokémon X & Y’s use of the word was too close to the energy drink’s and “may cause confusion,” Japanese trademark lawyers stated that the two “differ in the number of constituent sounds and the sense of tone of the words. It is easily discernible.” For this reason, the two are considered “dissimilar trademarks.”

The translation went on to roast Monster Energy by stating that there was “absolutely no reason to believe” that the games were similar to Monster Energy in any way. There was also “no evidence” that proved any harm was being done to Monster Energy, its trademark, or “public order.”

Whoever is on Monster Energy’s legal team is possibly too hyped up on energy drinks. Filing hundreds of frivolous trademark-related lawsuits is quite shocking and it looks like the company is showing no signs of slowing down despite these lawsuits failing to lead to anything other than some scolding from lawmakers in the past.

Source: https://win.gg/news/no-game-is-safe-from-a-monster-energy-lawsuit-at-this-point/

 

[Skifi28]

I can respect the hustle.

 

[ManaByte]

This is like Edge Games suing everyone in the late 90s/early 2000s who used the word “Edge”

 

[Nemesisuuu]

They still exist? I mean, Monster drinks?

 

[Spyxos]

They still exist? I mean, Monster drinks?

They can't compete with Red Bull, so I guess this is their strategy to stay relevant.

 

[Fuz]

They need to be fined a ridiculous amount of money for their stupid trolling.

 

[Hydroxy]

Fuck them.

 

[onQ123]

This actually piss me off lol

What type of BS is this? Monster is way to common for anyone to own SMH I hope it results in Monster Energy Drinks losing the rights to the name for being stupid

 

[Doczu]

Well i'm gonna vote with my wallet and won't drink monster energy anymore....

Not that i had one in like 5 years after the Monster Ultra meme craze

 

[Teletraan1]

The first Pokemon came out like 6 years prior to that piss arriving on store shelves. If I was TPC I would have WWF'd them up.

 

[ManaByte]

They still exist? I mean, Monster drinks?

You can’t kill the devil.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Surely Monster Energy had to pair the word Monster with Energy in order to be able to establish some brand identity... So it seems reasonable to protect that, but this is only half of that.

I don't see "monster hunter" and think that it's about trying to find stock of a drink. Nobody does.

If I drank that awful shit, I might consider switching brand.

 

[ParaSeoul]

Wow what a bunch of


Monsters.

 

[Portugeezer]

One thing is to bring this ridiculous case to a company Ubisoft, but when you punch down on indie devs you're just scum at that point.

Too bad Ubisoft didn't want to deal with this nonsense a couple years ago, they would have dealt with it easily, but it was a new IP and they weren't very invested in the name so... it continues...

 

[GrayChild]

Honestly, these fuckers deserve to be countersued. Their sheer arrogance is just staggering...

Hopefully Capcom and The Pokemon Company will truly put them in their place.

 

[Robb]

That’s absolute b/s but they’re living up to their name at least.

 

[hyperbertha]

Hope they are put out of business. Learn your place you cucks. Nobody cares about your stupid drinks or your name.

 

[SCB3]

I want them to sue Kojima Productions for the use of Monster Energy in Death Stranding, that would be amazing

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Oh fuck off!

 

[Cyberpunkd]

This is like Edge Games suing everyone in the late 90s/early 2000s who used the word “Edge”

Yup, just fucking wait till they sue Nintendo - knowing how protective they are of their IPs they will go nuclear on the little shits.

 

[Spukc]

You can’t kill the devil.

wow

 

[nush]

This is like Edge Games suing everyone in the late 90s/early 2000s who used the word “Edge”

There was a period of time where Beats (Headphones) did something like this, they trademarked every single name they could think of for headphones. Like they had someone going through a dictionary and applying for trademarks for words they were never going to use, just to stop anyone else using them.

You can go through a trademark website and see the game, apply, fail to use use, request extension repeatedly until they were classified as abandoned because the could not show use.

EXECUTIVE Trademark - Serial Number 85342534 :: Justia Trademarks

Audio related products and equipment, namely, speakers and speaker components, namely, woofers, subwoofers, tweeters, midrange, tuner, compression drivers, amplifiers, equalizers, crossovers and speaker housings; and docking stations for portable music players

trademarks.justia.com

It was a pain to find a name to register for new headphones during this time because of this bullshit.

 

[aclar00]

Seems like a pretty good viral campaign.

 

[Beer Baelly]

 

[8BiTw0LF]

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

What a retarded company.

 

[The_Mike]

You can’t kill the devil.

We all laughed at her back then, but it all makes sense now.

 

[ahtlas7]

Frivolous lawsuit is frivolous. Monster should have their cases thrown out and forced to remunerate the companies sued, in addition, fined for wasting public court time.

 

[Fuz]

We all laughed at her back then, but it all makes sense now.

 

[theStartupSound]

Reminds me of that time some company tried to trademark the @ symbol.

 

[MrA]

Wow they're about to lose a lot of lawsuits
Trademarks are for 1 category, energy drink and video games aren't the same
Second a generic term like monster can't be trade marked by itself, it has to be something like monster energy drink,

 

[Susurrus]

Monster Energy on a rampage after Pokémon lawsuit
In Japan, Pokémon has the nickname Pocket Monster. Monster!? Not allowed, according to Monster Energy. Capcom was also sued by Monster Energy for its game Monster Hunter.

Both of these shocking lawsuits appear on a site called J-PlatPat, a Japanese site that contains a digital library of trademark-related filings. Just on this site alone, one reporter was able to find 130 trademark objections made by Monster Energy, including the ones against Pokémon and then Capcom for Monster Hunter.

While Monster Energy claimed that Monster Hunter and Pokémon X & Y’s use of the word was too close to the energy drink’s and “may cause confusion,” Japanese trademark lawyers stated that the two “differ in the number of constituent sounds and the sense of tone of the words. It is easily discernible.” For this reason, the two are considered “dissimilar trademarks.”

The translation went on to roast Monster Energy by stating that there was “absolutely no reason to believe” that the games were similar to Monster Energy in any way. There was also “no evidence” that proved any harm was being done to Monster Energy, its trademark, or “public order.”

Whoever is on Monster Energy’s legal team is possibly too hyped up on energy drinks. Filing hundreds of frivolous trademark-related lawsuits is quite shocking and it looks like the company is showing no signs of slowing down despite these lawsuits failing to lead to anything other than some scolding from lawmakers in the past.

Source: https://win.gg/news/no-game-is-safe-from-a-monster-energy-lawsuit-at-this-point/

Um, they realize Pokemon has been around 8 years longer than Monster Energy right? You can't just name a product something and then sue already existing things for having that name.

 

[Kadve]

This is like Edge Games suing everyone in the late 90s/early 2000s who used the word “Edge”

Then lets see if they too try to take on EA and get counter sued into oblivion.

Also like "edge" this isn't about winning the lawsuit. Its about applying scare tactics. Most of the companies sued will not have the budget to take it further.

 

[MrA]

Then lets see if they too try to take on EA and get counter sued into oblivion.

They're going to be monster alone isn't trademarkable and you can't trademark outside of the category your item is in

 

[adamsapple]

Death Stranding also took out the Monster branding for the Directors Cut right ?

 

[Spyxos]

Death Stranding also took out the Monster branding for the Directors Cut right ?

The most likely reason for Monster Energy drinks being removed from Death Stranding Director's Cut is that the licensing agreements simply expired. Rather than renewing them or finding another brand to replace it with, the game's developers likely opted to create an in-universe counterpart to the drinks instead.

 

[Unknown?]

It took me way too long to realize Pokémon is short for Pocket Monster!

 

[NoLootBoxDev]

The fuckers are coming for you boy:

 

[flying_sq]

Is this a weird sales tactic?

 

[SF Kosmo]

Monster Energy is not the problem here, American IP law is. It more or less forces companies to file these sorts of frivolous lawsuits in order to maintain their trademarks.

Basically, one of the requirements to make a trademark legally enforceable is that you have to show a vigorous defense of that trademark. So companies are incentived to file bullshit lawsuits against companies who are too small to fight them and who will settle, and that settlement essentially legitimizes the trademark claim if they ever need to defend it for real.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

It is logical, why if that radioactive drink was released after Pokemon?


Are they also in danger?

 

[Eiknarf]

The song, “The Monster Mash” came out in 1962

Maybe Bobby Pickett’s estate should sue Monster Energy??

​

 

[badblue]

It more or less forces companies to file these sorts of frivolous lawsuits in order to maintain their trademarks.

To a degree. It's valid to go after another drink trying to use the word "monster" to protect you drink brand TM.
No one would have been confused by a video game titled "Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals" or even consider it to have anything to do with Monster Energy.

 

[Fuz]

Then lets see if they too try to take on EA and get counter sued into oblivion.

Also like "edge" this isn't about winning the lawsuit. Its about applying scare tactics. Most of the companies sued will not have the budget to take it further.

That's why there HAS TO BE a judge who heavily sanctions them for their bullshittery.

 

[CatLady]

They need to be fined a ridiculous amount of money for their stupid trolling.

Absolutely. They should not be able to continue this obnoxious patent trolling with no repercussions. Nobody should be allowed to own single common everyday words like monster.

 

[Comandr]

I don't drink monster often but I guess I can just make that... never. Easy enough. Fuck around and find out I guess.

 

[nkarafo]

They can't compete with Red Bull, so I guess this is their strategy to stay relevant.

Stay relevant by making everyone hate them?

 

[Spyxos]

Stay relevant by making everyone hate them?

Even negative press is advertising for them at the end of the day. I'm not saying it's a good idea, but I could imagine them factoring it in.

 

[UnNamed]

Now please someone make an indie game called "Monster Monsta: Monstrous Monstrosity

 

[rofif]

I love monster energy ultra paradise and zero white.
Go go monster!!!!