http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/blue-jeans-strikes-back



Basically, Monster Cable tried to bully another small cable company out of business without realizing it's owner was a former lawyer. Hilarity ensued.

4/15/2008 2:57:11 PM

lol

4/15/2008 3:17:15 PM

Quote :

"you are in Rule 11 frivolous-claim territory."

long read, but funny.

4/15/2008 3:24:43 PM

i think it makes the Blue Jeans Cable guy, Kurt Denke, kind of look like an idiot for spending so much time and energy putting together a long and nerdy response to Monster.

just because he says that Monster doesn't have a case against him, doesn't make it true.

4/15/2008 3:28:34 PM

^obviously didn't read the letter

4/15/2008 3:40:06 PM

HAH that was classic.

4/15/2008 3:57:56 PM

I will find out the facts sooner or later in any event, but the impact upon your credibility will not be repaired. It looks like when you sent this letter, you were operating on the premise that I am not smart enough to see through your deceptions or sophisticated enough to intelligently evaluate your claims; shame on you.

4/15/2008 4:00:33 PM

monster cable is a rip off so thats why I hate em. Every guitar cable I have ever used from them has ended up dying out on me at some point. So, besides being expensive to begin with, after about 4 full cables I definitely stopped using them. Switched to Planet Waves and I havent had 1 of my 4 die on me yet (a few years of heavy use)

ill read the article when i get home though

[Edited on April 15, 2008 at 4:17 PM. Reason : ]

4/15/2008 4:09:36 PM

Kurt Denke is my new hero.

4/15/2008 4:22:36 PM

that was amusing

4/15/2008 5:09:25 PM

not trying to derail this thread, but someone should find the recent thing about monster cable losing in a visual comparison test to a wire hanger...

4/15/2008 6:15:46 PM

^ funny, but not relevant to the issue of bullshit lawsuits

4/15/2008 6:17:04 PM

wow... i googled the last half of your sentence and...

http://consumerist.com/362926/do-coat-hangers-sound-as-good-monster-cables
damn that was hard

4/15/2008 6:21:42 PM

audiophiles are pretty much 99% full of shit

4/15/2008 6:26:33 PM

^ Well yeah, when it comes to shit like this.

When it comes to comparing $15 cheapo speakers to speakers that are well made I suppose they're right. There's still a lot of brand snobbery that is, I agree, total BS.

4/15/2008 7:35:41 PM

yea i mean you cant make a blanket statement. there is a HUGE difference in audio equipment, night and day between better quality guitar amps and speaker cabinets for instance. not even the least bit made up or BS.

when it comes to cabling, meh, ive had some crappy cables that had too much fuzz, or grain in the background at times, but for the most part i never notice any difference in sound from a cable. i mainly want them to hold up to wear and tear.

[Edited on April 15, 2008 at 7:49 PM. Reason : ]

4/15/2008 7:48:19 PM

Speakers and amps you can tell a difference... i'm sorry if you can't but there is one...
Most of it is personal preference though.. i mean when i bought mine i didn't want to spend this kind of money but i auditioned 20 sets and felt.. meh... and popped a boner when i heard these.

+ you can actually see the quality components used but... all of my cables are mono price 10 gauge oxyfree copper even the ones run through the wall (rated for wall/ceiling installation) but still i spent $ on everything but cables and don't regret it a bit.

4/15/2008 8:20:52 PM

I've always know monster was full of shit - for a short distance a piece of copper carrying electrons is a piece of copper carrying electrons regardless of how it was made...

4/15/2008 9:25:34 PM

That was an amazing read. Way to go Kurt, haha.

4/15/2008 10:36:06 PM

monster cable sucks. MIT audio cables is where it's at.

4/15/2008 10:49:35 PM

Quote :

"I say this because my observation has been that Monster Cable typically operates in a hit-and-run fashion. Your client threatens litigation, expecting the victim to panic and plead for mercy; and what follows is a quickie negotiation session that ends with payment and a licensing agreement. Your client then uses this collection of licensing agreements to convince others under similar threat to accede to its demands. Let me be clear about this: there are only two ways for you to get anything out of me. You will either need to (1) convince me that I have infringed, or (2) obtain a final judgment to that effect from a court of competent jurisdiction. It may be that my inability to see the pragmatic value of settling frivolous claims is a deep character flaw, and I am sure a few of the insurance carriers for whom I have done work have seen it that way; but it is how I have done business for the last quarter-century and you are not going to change my mind. If you sue me, the case will go to judgment, and I will hold the court's attention upon the merits of your claims--or, to speak more precisely, the absence of merit from your claims--from start to finish. Not only am I unintimidated by litigation; I sometimes rather miss it. I will also point out to you that if you do choose to undertake litigation, your "upside" is tremendously limited. If you somehow managed, despite the formidable obstacles in your way, to obtain a finding of infringement, and if you were successful at recovering a large licensing fee--say, ten cents per connector--as the measure of damages, your recovery to date would not reach four figures. On the downside, I will advance defenses which, if successful, will substantially undermine your future efforts to use these patents and marks to threaten others with these types of actions; as you are of course aware, it is easier today for your competitors to use collateral estoppel offensively than it ever has been before. Also, there is little doubt that making baseless claims of trade dress infringement and design patent infringement is an improper business tactic, which can give rise to unfair competition claims, and for a company of Monster's size, potential antitrust violations with treble damages and attorneys' fees."

that is one hell of a call out.

4/18/2008 7:47:07 AM

that made my day

4/18/2008 8:14:10 AM

Am I the only one who had to look up a few of the words used in that letter?

[Edited on April 18, 2008 at 9:00 AM. Reason : ...]

4/18/2008 8:52:13 AM

^nope

4/18/2008 12:46:25 PM