A review of our stories about Monster Energy’s trademark bullying ways might leave some scratching their heads as to why the company continues along these lines at all. After all, any review of those stories will leave one with the impression that Monster Energy seems to lose these trademark oppositions at nearly every turn. So, if that’s the case, why continue with this losing streak?

Well, as we’ve explained previously, winning an opposition or lawsuit is only one of the real goals in trademark bullying. Other goals include making the opposition so painful and expensive so as to either push the victim into unreasonable changes or to simply drain the victim of cash and assets as they attempt to defend themselves. Likewise, such bullying serves as public notice to anyone else that might consider similar actions that would draw the bully’s ire, chilling their willingness to do so. In this, Monster Energy’s trademark bullying is often quite successful.

An example of this can be found in UK beverage company Thirsty Beasts, which recently won its case against Monster Energy’s opposition to its trademark for the second time on appeal.

Dan Smith, from Newbury, created healthy drinks company Thirsty Beasts in 2018, and the US firm filed a legal challenge against him.

It claimed customers would confuse both Mr Smith’s slogan – “Rehab the beast” – with its “Unleash the beast” line. The case, which was dismissed, cost Mr Smith more than £30,000 in legal fees. He said he and his wife had ploughed every penny they had into launching the business. After registering his first trademark in the UK in 2016, Mr Smith then filed the Thirsty Beasts logo. Billion-dollar company Monster Energy objected to his application, claiming Mr Smith’s slogan was too similar to its own.

The UK Trademark Office ruled in favour of Thirsty Beasts, but Monster Energy appealed the decision.

And Thirsty Beasts won that appeal. The Trademark Office once again reviewed the material provided by the two companies, including the branding, company names, and logos, and rightly decided that there was no customer confusion to be had here. You can read the entire timeline of events for yourself on the company’s website, but ultimately this story has a happy ending, right?

Well, again, winning the opposition isn’t the only, or perhaps even primary goal, of the trademark bully.

“Financially it has crippled the company,” Mr Smith said. He added: “We had savings set aside to boost the product, to do the marketing, to get that one drink out. Now we’ve burnt all of that, that and more trying to win this. We are two years behind where we want to be.”

The entrepreneur now needs to raise £28,000 for a limited launch of the product in spring 2019.

Maybe the Smith family will be able to do that, maybe they won’t. And that’s the real harm of large corporate trademark bullies like Monster Energy. Even in losing, it might still ultimately win if its victim can’t survive in business because of its bullying. And, again, Monster Energy can point to such an outcome should anybody else out there want to take similar innocuous actions.

Trademark bullying works. And on more than one front.

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