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No game is safe from a Monster Energy lawsuit at this point

Spyxos

Member
Pokemon-sad.jpg


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/
 
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Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
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.
 

Portugeezer

Member
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...
 

nush

Member
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.

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

MrA

Member
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

Member
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

Member
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.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Death Stranding also took out the Monster branding for the Directors Cut right ?
 

Spyxos

Member
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.
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
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.
 

badblue

Gold Member
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

Banned
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.
 
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