Can't use "monster", claw designs, parallel lines, or green and black colors

[Homicidal_Squirrel]

And claws. I guess Marvel is going to have to shelve their concepts for the covers of "Wolverine"

I mean, Monster Energy has been busy for quite some time in Japan of all places, trying to get others to stop using the word "monster." And they went after some big names, too. For things that were out before Monster Energy was even around. I don't see why they wouldn't want to go after Wolverine and his claws. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out they already tried to do this years ago.

Monster Energy Takes on Pokémon, Monster Musume's Trademarks in Japan, It Wasn’t Very Effective

The last week has seen global energy drink company Monster Energy be outed as a trademark litigator against anything with the whiff of the word “monster” in it, including games that we

www.crunchyroll.com

 

[MarkB]

Have they gone after Walkers yet?

 

[aco175]

I would think that Monster needs to get in line behind Glowsticks in suing Glowstick Entertainment.

 

[Homicidal_Squirrel]

Have they gone after Walkers yet?

And they have the word monster in green? I surprised they actually haven't gone after them yet.

 

[billd91]

Nah, this reminds me of the gaming urban legend about TSR trying to trademark "Nazi".

While I'm sure they didn't intentionally try to claim a trademark, there is a Nazi stand-up figure in the Raiders of the Lost Ark adventure booklet that says Nazi with the little TM superscript next to it. I assume it's an editing mistake since it's the only person token on the page that isn't a specific individual (like Belloq or Todt). It was probably supposed to be omitted on that stand-up like it is in the main boxed set for generic Nazi and Native stand-ups.

 

[MGibster]

Looks like Monster Energy is trying to go after a gaming studio for using the word "monster" in its game title. I would assume that it would be hard for them to actually win this case as the word monster isn't something you could put a trademark on. At lest that's my assumption... but what do I know. Would they technically be able to go after anyone using the word "monster" or any variation. For example, would they be able to go after WoTC/Hasbro for the Monster Manual?

Any way, I would think being this heavy-handed would lead to some pretty terrible publicity for Monster Energy.

I'm not a lawyer, but I used to love LA Law, Perry Mason, and the original Night Court series, so I feel as though I'm qualified. The purpose of a trademark is to ensure customers understand a product comes from a specific manufacturer. So you could certainly trademark Monster as its used to sell energy drinks but that doens't mean you'd own the use of Monster in all circumstances. If I came along with Lil' Monster Energy Drink you could argue this violates your trademark as it causes confusion among customers who think my product is produced by you. But if I have a game called Monster I should be fine. Now if I have a game called Monster with the three little scratch marks maybe an argument could be made that it's too similar to your trademark. That's for a court to decide I guess.

 

[Homicidal_Squirrel]

I'm not a lawyer, but I used to love LA Law, Perry Mason, and the original Night Court series, so I feel as though I'm qualified.

You're more than qualified to run the most prestigious of law schools in Florida.

 

[Orius]

It's the sort of asinine lawsuit that should be thrown out on its ass before it makes lawyers look even worse. Monster is such a common word that no reputable lawyer should be willing to waste his time on nonsense like this.

 

[Ryujin]

I seem to recall that there was a trademark lawsuit brought by the Omega Watch company, against a car company (Oldsmobile?), in one of the Scandinavian countries. Seems they were worried that someone would go to buy a watch and accidentally end up with a car, instead. They won.