The following is an open letter to Noel Lee, of Monster Cables regarding their lawsuit against Monster Mini Golf over the use of the word "Monster" in their name. If you'd like to help, you can either make a donation or buy a $1 coupon from eBay.
Mr. Lee,
This email is in regards to the lawsuit that your company has pending against Monster Mini Golf over the use of the word "Monster".
For the recipients of this email who aren't familiar with the case, more information can be found here: Monster Mini Golf: Help Us Stop The Bully!
First, let me explain a bit about who I am, so you can understand where I'm coming from. I'm 31 years old and live in Providence, RI. I am not married, though I do have a 12 year old daughter. I'm a software engineer focusing on web applications and I earn enough money to comfortably afford to spend thousands of dollars a year on products such as the ones Monster Cable sells.
I'm an electronics geek as well. I spend weeks pouring over technical specs whenever I'm about to buy a new "gadget" to ensure that I'm getting the highest performance at a fair price. I am the "go to" guy for my friends and family whenever someone needs tech help. I'm active in not only keeping a tech oriented blog, but a personal one, as well as being a member of many social networking communities such asDigg.com, Reddit.com, MySpace.com, and Facebook.com.
I'm active within my community, having studied and taught martial arts for 10 years to many children and adults, as well as spending a lot of time with other parents at my daughter's softball games, chorus recitals and other activities.
In short, I'd imagine that I am one of your main target demographics, and I have significant sway within my circle of influence which is quite large.
I have long been very familiar with your company's products and always associated them with "higher end". The way you would think of a Porsche or Mercedes when talking about cars. Yes, a bit more expensive, but of a higher quality. Today, that mental association has changed. When I think of Monster Cable now, I think of a corporation that is trying to put my local mini golf out of business over the claim that people would confuse glow-in-the-dark mini golf with gold plated HDMI cables.
I've brought my daughter to play Mini Golf at Monster Mini golf many times, and we've always enjoyed it. It's truly a family establishment. Here in New England, mini golf was a seasonal treat. You could only play for a few months in the summer when the weather was nice. Monster mini golf changed that by having indoor courses, and made it Halloween all year round with their colorful decor and kid-friendly spooky atmosphere. Now, even when the snow is knee deep outside, I can go and shoot a quick round with my little girl while we laugh about how funny our t-shirts look in the blacklights.
It's not just for kids, either. Last year a friend of mine decided to have her 30th birthday party at Monster Mini Golf and we all had a blast. I'll be sure to send a copy of this letter to each of the attendees as well.
The fact that your company is trying to extort money from Monster Mini Golf changes my opinions about Monster Cables. While I had never even thought of the two companies in the same context before, they will be forever linked in my mind. Anytime someone asks me about setting up
their home theater, I will tell them this story about how Monster cables tried to close down my local mini golf place and advise that they buy cables from another company. The funny thing is that I will have to go and do new research as to what company to recommend because Monster was always the easiest to tell people and have them remember.
I will make sure that the people I talk to share the same association that I now have of your company.
I urge you to reconsider this case, but after reading some of the history of your company, I know you won't. Which is fine. There's nothing I can do, but tell you how I feel.
You have an entire section of your website devoted to "Monster in the Community". And yet, here you are threatening a business that is based around providing the community a safe and family friendly venue where we can spend quality time with our children. Your actions could financially devastate a small business that is obviously in no way competing for your clients just for the chance to make a few bucks.
I've included the contacts from some of those community groups as well as some of the places that sell your products in this email in the hopes that they will share my outrage and contact you as well.
I will also be publishing a version of this letter to my website: http://blog.ourcurrentfuture.com
and promoting it on all of the social networks I am a member of.
I'm sure that nobody *I* know will be confused as to who Monster Mini Golf is and who Monster Cable is.. even if they do share a common dictionary word in their name.
Sincerely,
Wayne Hunt
