You may recall the battle that started back in 2012, when the owner of an aquarium forum called MonsterFishKeepers was senta cease and desist letter by Monster Energy drinkover alleged trademark infringement? Well after nearly four years of litigation, MonsterFishKeepers was handed a decisive victory.
The $28 billion energy drink conglomerate wields one of the most blatant trademark bullying strategies in big business. Most often it’s the little guys, like怪物鱼佩恩斯, who get bulldozed over and have little choice but to cower to the strong-arm tactics and fold.
The drama for MosterFishKeepers began in 2012 when the site’s owner and big fish enthusiast Li Chih filed for a trademark so he could sell logo T-shirts to other hobbyists to help with the costs of running a popular website. Soon after, Chih received the notice. Despite having started his site well before Monster energy drink was on the scene, Chih had two choices — 1.) fight it and probably lose while spending a lot of money he didn’t have or 2.) cave to the lawyers.
After consulting an attorney who quoted him a fee of around $150,000 with no guaranty they’d win, Chih was left scratching his head contemplating his next move.
“这就像我对我的凹痕,一个缺乏我的动机,”Chih对华盛顿邮报说道。“有点像,为什么他们想追求我们?我们只是一堆鱼类守护者。“
但是,它是他在MFK的业余爱好者社区,提供了答案Chih正在寻找。关于他佩尔的论坛成员告诉Chih,在波士顿市中心的萨福克大学法学院举办了一份职业的合成法律诊所。
This fledgling intellectual-property law clinic, which worked like a small law firm, takes cases like Chih’s that its student attorneys could then research and debate. One experienced attorney would lead, supervise and vouch for the cases, assisted by eight third-year Suffolk law students working 15 hours a week.
After years of hard work and dedication by these students, Chih was handed his victory on Feb. 1 when the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board made their decision public. Although the board would not register Chih’s logo because of MFK’s ‘M’ with devil horns looked similar to Monster’s ‘M’ with claw marks, the big win came when it ruled in favor of MFK and preventing Monster from opposing the MonsterFishKeepers name itself.
董事会写道,因为他们规则,标志“从反对者的标志中表现出这样的不同商业印象,”董事会不太可能。“相比之下,随着证据表明,由于怪物在申请人的标记中蒙特尔之前,整个标记将被理解为参考一条被保存的非常大的鱼。”
We are extremely excited to learn of this key victory by Chih and another member of the fish keeping forum community. Read more about this in这个伟大的华盛顿邮政文章。