Intellectual Property Law

WSJ: The Scariest Monster of All Sues for Trademark Infringement"

By Marty Schwimmer

WSJ: The Scariest Monster of All Sues for Trademark Infringement":

When Christina and Patrick Vitagliano dreamed up their Monster Mini Golf franchises -- 18-hole, indoor putting greens straddled by glow-in-the-dark statues of ghouls and gargoyles -- they never imagined that a California maker of high-end audio cables would object.

But Monster Cable Products Inc., which holds more than 70 trademarks on the word monster, challenged the Vitaglianos' trademark applications. It filed a federal lawsuit against their company in California and demanded the Rhode Island couple surrender the name and pay at least $80,000 for the right to use it.

If you thought, from the headline, that this was about Monster, the employment listings company, it isn't.

Full post as published by Trademark Blog on April 06, 2009 (boomark / email).