Clash of the Monsters

October 16, 10:09 AMColorado Springs Craft Beer ExaminerEli Shayotovich

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In case you missed this brew-travesty of justice in the making... Hansen Beverage Co. (maker of the wildly popular Monster energy drink) is demanding that tiny Rock Art Brewery in Vermont cease using the name "Vermonster."

Why?

Because the mega corp thinks the masses will confuse their world famous energy drink with Rock Art's beer.

Hansen obviously doesn't think too highly of consumers if they truly believe we will in any way, shape or form confuse these two wholly different beverages. Apparently the geniuses at Hansen missed the obvious and hilarious play on words. "Vermont" + the word "monster" = "Vermonster."  Get it?!

Based in Morrisville, Vermont, Rock Art is owned and operated by Matt and Renee Nadeau. They employee seven people. "Vermonster," which has been in production since 2007, comes in in 22-ounce brown glass bottles and is sold in the states of Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Arizona.

In the other corner you have Hansen, a publicly traded company that employees hundreds. Their gross sales for the second quarter of 2009 were $345.8 million, up 6.7% from $324.1 million in the same period last year. They reportedly sold $1 billion worth of Monster energy drink last year.

Not only does the multi-million dollar mega corp want the tiny 7-person Rock Art Brewery to stop using the word "Vermonster," but they also want the brewery to compensate it for its attorneys' fees. On a frivolous lawsuit their attorney's brought to bare.

Nadeau says he's been told by five trademark attorneys that the law is probably on his side, but that proving it through lengthy litigation could bankrupt him.

"This is just about principle," said Nadeau, 43. "Corporate America can't be allowed to do this, in this day and age. It's just not right."

Damn straight it's not right.  And I don't want to hear about how they are defending their trademark. The word "monster" can not be trademarked. And the idea that we the people are stupid enough - as Hansen asserts - to get these two vastly different products confused is beyond ludicrous.

This "dispute" (I like to think of it as corporate harassment) began last month when Hansen's ambulance chasing lawyer, Diane M. Reed, sent an e-mail to Nadeau's attorneys saying the brewer's beer would - and I quote:  "undoubtedly create a likelihood of confusion and/or dilute" Hansen's trademark.

Nadeau reportedly contacted Reed and pointed out  that the products were in two completely different beverage markets — beer and energy drinks — and offered to surrender any rights to use the name on an energy drink. Which he had no intention of ever making anyway. This mattered little to the bottom feeding attorney who told Nadeau that wasn't really the concern.

What is their concern then?  Ah, here's where the real crux of the bogus lawsuit stems... Hansen wants to enter the alcoholic beverage market.  Ba-blam!

Nadeau had a great comeback: "Too bad, I'm already here. I've been here. And I'm already brewing beer."

Nadeau has taken his beef online and his supporters are taking up the cause, spreading this across the Internet with several "Boycott Monster" rallies. So help support the little guy against the greed of corporate America on these sites:

•  Support Rock Art Brewery by flying a Twibbon
  
• Join the "Vermonters and Craft Beer Drinkers Against Monster" group on Facebook
• Watch "Screw the Monster" on Beer Buzz on Beer Tap TV
• Send an Email to Hansen voicing your displeasure
• Sign the online petition against Corporate Greed