Hansens Versus Rock Art

It’s old news, but I’m in Kuala Lumpur so it takes me a while sometimes to figure things out. Except the Malaysian malt liquor scene. That I’m all over.

But we have an energy drink company by the name of Monster deciding to send threatening letters from their lawyer to Rock Art brewery in Vermont. Apparently the latter has a beer called “Vermonster”, as in a person from Vermont.

Hansens, the parent company of Monster, defends its actions because it claims to have plans to enter the beer business. Let me spell it out. “Malt-based energy drinks” are not beer. They have nothing to do with beer. So these people are not going to be – if they ever actually bother to put out a product – in the beer business.

Furthermore, this company has not filed suit against Monster.com for the use of the word “monster”, which it apparently thinks it owns. Nor have they filed suit against Pixar over Monsters, Inc.

So what can we learn from this? The company claims it isn’t picking on Rock Art. Bullshit. They are. They don’t have the balls to take giant companies to court in bogus lawsuits. But they are willing to threaten little companies with bogus lawsuits. Gutless cowards. This has nothing to do with protecting their brand name and everything to do with venting their frustration at marketing a shitty, wanna-be, follower beverage in a fad industry on a company that is small enough for them to pick on.

Everyone knows that Rock Art would win. The word “monster” is not intellectual property and even if it was it wouldn’t be the intellectual property of Hansens. The company can file, if it so desires, for “Monster Energy Drink” and own that word in that category. It does not own the word in every consumer product category, or indeed any in which it does not compete. That’s not how trademark law works.

So this is a clear cut case of corporate bullying. That is why I support the boycotts against Hansens and Monster. They need to pay. They need to suffer. They need the bad publicity. These types of worthless douchebags need to go out of business as fast as humanly possible.