Monster Cable lawsuits...

[lavoll]

i sent a tip to a journalist here who writes about stupid lawsuits and the ridicolous warning labels that often are the result of them.
for example "this is not a toothbrush" on a toilet brush.

what if halloween effects end up with a warning label "do not use with your home theatre system" on them?? hehe

[nuffink]

Don't be afraid of them Laurent.

Be afraid. US courts are notoriously partisan in trade disputes.

[Alfalfa]

edited...

[Stupid American Pig]

I'm just discovering this thread; what does M* Cable is really disgusting.

[...] a licensing agreement package from Monster Cable suggesting that she pay the wire-maker $1,000 a year and 1 percent of gross sales in exchange for use of the word "monster."

So here is their business plan. Threatening dozen of small companies to get lawsuit they cannot afford, to extort them an income. Small, compared to the lawyer fees, but drops create rivers.

How the US laws can allow this kind of behaviour ? Victims should join together to defend against this crook company.

For people wanting to tell a company how they disagree their business methods, I suggest to write physical letters too. It's longer to do and stamp is not free, but has way more impact than electronic mail.

Regarding the name of our upcoming instrument, it's really an issue. I don't know what we'll do yet, we have to discuss about this with other ohmies and GMedia.

-- Laurent

I think that the problem is that There are sooo many lawyers, and we are so litigious because:

1) Most "frivilous" cases are a gamble by a lawyer, offering "free legal aid" to try their case, and not charging a fee to the plaintiff if they lose. This is particularly true in personal injury cases. The big lawyer on TV here is "JIM ADLER- THE TEXAS HAMMER" or the "TOUGH, SMART LAWYER" I think that if you have to self proclaim that you are both tough and smart then that is probably not true...
2) adding to 1), the fact that the loser of a case doesnt pay, only serves to reinforce the belief that with lawsuits you have nothing to lose, everything to gain...
3) The culture in the US, and to a lesser degree everywhere, that injury, loss is never an individuals fault, but someone elses.
4) The fact that Lawyers are soooo expensive, that potential litigation scares people into settlements. Lawyers are the US's new mafia. I can threaten a frivilous lawsuit because I know that more often than not, you will settle even if its bullshit.
5) Most lawmakers/congressmen are lawyers.

Dont get me wrong, there is a legitamate need for lawyers, and some are decent people. However, there are soo many ambitious/slimy/evil lawyers, they have to make money somehow. So they chase ambulances, sue drug companies, 12 year old music downloaders, and just about anyone else they can...

[Sascha Franck]

As said, best thing would be to spread the word and just inform potential customers.
No lawsuit required, no nothing - they will just go bankrupt after a while.

Problem is, as Cordelia allready pointed out, they operate on a widely spread market, so reaching their customers is not that easy.
Perhaps they wouldn't even care in case they lost 100% of their pro audio customers... but it's worth a try.

[C00kie]

The motto seems to be: "even bad publicity is publicity!"

Now jcroot, you want an answer... A cable is not just a conducting piece of copper. It does have electrical properties like resistance, capacistance (is that the right word? bet not... capacity!?) so it acts in a way as a resistor, a capacitor and sometimes a coil (especially when rolled up.) These are fundamental electronic building blocks apart from semiconductors.

Risking I'm talking utter bullox here... I guess the thicker a cable, the smaller its resistance but the bigger its capacity. Both these properties can degrade a signal, so you need to find the right balance.

For high voltages (speaker signal) you need thick cables, because with the high resistance of a thin cable it would get hot and melt.
For low voltages (mic signal) you need thin copper lines. The capacity of a big piece of copper would render the signal invisible.

[Stupid American Pig]

The motto seems to be: "even bad publicity is publicity!"

Now jcroot, you want an answer... A cable is not just a conducting piece of copper. It does have electrical properties like resistance, capacistance (is that the right word? bet not... capacity!?) so it acts in a way as a resistor, a capacitor and sometimes a coil (especially when rolled up.) These are fundamental electronic building blocks apart from semiconductors.

Risking I'm talking utter bullox here... I guess the thicker a cable, the smaller its resistance but the bigger its capacity. Both these properties can degrade a signal, so you need to find the right balance.

For high voltages (speaker signal) you need thick cables, because with the high resistance of a thin cable it would get hot and melt.
For low voltages (mic signal) you need thin copper lines. The capacity would render the signal invisible.

High current requires heavy gauge as well...

[Alfalfa]

edit

[nuffink]

As said, best thing would be to spread the word and just inform potential customers.

The problem is Sascha, those potential customers believe Monsters ludicrous, scientifically unsubstantiated claims for their product (or they wouldn't be potential customers).
Why would they give a shit about this bunch of snake oil salesmens ethics in any other sphere of business?

[nuffink]

The motto seems to be: "even bad publicity is publicity!"

Now jcroot, you want an answer... A cable is not just a conducting piece of copper. It does have electrical properties like resistance, capacistance (is that the right word? bet not... capacity!?) so it acts in a way as a resistor, a capacitor and sometimes a coil (especially when rolled up.) These are fundamental electronic building blocks apart from semiconductors.

Risking I'm talking utter bullox here... I guess the thicker a cable, the smaller its resistance but the bigger its capacity. Both these properties can degrade a signal, so you need to find the right balance.

For high voltages (speaker signal) you need thick cables, because with the high resistance of a thin cable it would get hot and melt.
For low voltages (mic signal) you need thin copper lines. The capacity of a big piece of copper would render the signal invisible.

Not bollox at all C00kie. It's just that there comes a point where all sanity goes out of the window.
It's not a great idea to hook up speakers with mic cable or vice-versa. However nobody has ever shown an audible difference between adequately designed cables. Every single properly conducted double blind test has shown no difference.
The whole audio cable industry is a monsterous fraud.

[Alfalfa]

edited...

[Stupid American Pig]

I see what you are saying, the plantiffs also share the blame, as I pointed out when I said

2) adding to 1), the fact that the loser of a case doesnt pay, only serves to reinforce the belief that with lawsuits you have nothing to lose, everything to gain...
3) The culture in the US, and to a lesser degree everywhere, that injury, loss is never an individuals fault, but someone elses.

Some citizens of this fair nation beleive that it is ok to bring these lawsuits to the courts. I personally would not want to make my fortune that way...

However, its a symbiotic relationship, the lawyers market their services as te "Fair, Just, and proper way to get what you deserve" and that its not "greedy to want millions for your suffering, its just whats right" (Those are actual quotes from commercials I see.) and the target audience(HEAVILY targeted lower income blue collar families) buys in to it.

Obviously its more complex than just that, but that is a big part of why there are so many lawsuits. Everybody pays when these things are brought to courts. The cost is passed on to consumers. Its a new form of tax...

Again, this is only a forum, so this may come across wrong, as I could probably explain my point for hours by talking. I think that lawyers also get a bad public face due to the snakes that advertise for personal injury and whatnot.

Besides that, I have 5 friends in lawschool right now, and I couldnt exactly hate them could I

[Alfalfa]

edit

[rollasoc]

In a semi similar vain.

When I was looking for a name to go by, my original choice was "Rubik's Duvet" (from a sketch about the state of David Baddiel's duvet due to too much masterbation).

I contacted the company that owns the rights to Rubik's cube to see if they had a problem with it. They said no, provided I signed a licensing agreement and paid them a percentage. To be fair though, they said it probably wouldn't be worth them persuing it, unless I actually made it famous, in which case they would persue it. In the end it seemed too much hassle.

Rollasoc
http://www.hairthieves.com

[munchkin]

I sent this to their customer services:

Dear Noel Lee,

I am a musician and member of the public. It has recently come to my attention that you are filing lawsuits against companies using the word, 'monster'. In light of your unnecessary litigacious behaviour I am boycotting your products until you drop all lawsuits against anyone using the word 'monster'. I do not believe that it is appropriate for a company serving the music community to behave in such a mean, opportunistic, bullying and unprofessional manner.

I will inform my friends and family of your reprehensible behaviour and ensure that your unprofessional business practices are well known on the internet forums I frequent. I am doing this to ensure that your litigacious behaviour is widely known. It is then up to each individual to decide how to deal with your company in the future.

Check out the smug bio of Monster Cables CEO, Noel Lee.