Estta625827 09/08/2014 in the United States Patent And
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Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Electronic Filing System. http://estta.uspto.gov ESTTA Tracking number: ESTTA625827 Filing date: 09/08/2014 IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE TRADEMARK TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Proceeding 91205893 Party Defendant Li-Wei Chih Correspondence EVE BROWN Address SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL 120 TREMONT STREET BOSTON, MA 02108 UNITED STATES [email protected] Submission Defendant's Notice of Reliance Filer's Name Eve Brown Filer's e-mail [email protected] Signature /Eve Brown/ Date 09/08/2014 Attachments Monster NOR 4.pdf(1169079 bytes ) http://www.change.org/p/monster-energy-company-stop-trademark-bullying- monsterfishkeepers-com Petition Closed with 8,875 supporters 8,875 signatures Stop Trademark Bullying MonsterFishKeepers.com! Petition by Nicole Putnam Ocala, FL Monster Aquaria Network is made up of three aquarium hobby sites and their respective forums: MonsterFishKeepers.com, AquariaCentral.com, and Aquatic-Photography.com. The Monster Fish Keepers™ Class 38 trademark "M" has been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since October of 2007. On February 24th, Monster Energy Company sent a cease and desist letter asking that the "M" logo be dropped from clothing, accessories and stickers. Along with advertising, this merchandise is a source of revenue for Monster Aquaria Network which defrays the cost of maintaining the sites. Monster Energy Company feels that the "M" logo constitutes trademark infringement and would cause customers confusion with their own MONSTER™, MONSTER ENERGY®, and MONSTER “Claw M®” registered trademarks. (It is unlikely that consumers would mistake a brand marketed to the keepers of large fish in specialty online sites and aquarium stores, for a brand marketed to regular customers in sports facilities and typical grocery and retail establishments.) The cease and desist letter was in response to MFK filing for a Class 25 trademark (clothing, footwear, and headgear). Monster Aquaria Network needs to sell their branded merchandise in order to keep the sites going, but cannot afford to legally battle with Monster Energy Company to secure their right to continue to do so. The law is on the side of Monster Fish Keepers™ (they already hold a Class 38 trademark on their logo). They are not in competiton with Monster Energy Company in any way. The Monster Aquaria Network sites are a place of learning, and a supportive community of hobbyists and conservationists that deserves to thrive. Monster Energy Company, please stop your corporate bullying of small businesses and online communities. Please immediately halt your actions against Monster Fish Keepers™! For more information on how to help, please visit: http://support.monsterfishkeepers.com/ To: Monster Energy Company Monster Aquaria Network is made up of three aquarium hobby sites and their respective forums: MonsterFishKeepers.com, AquariaCentral.com, and Aquatic-Photography.com. The Monster Fish Keepers™ Class 38 trademark "M" has been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since October of 2007. On February 24th, Monster Energy Company sent a cease and desist letter asking that the "M" logo be dropped from clothing, accessories and stickers. The cease and desist letter was in response to MFK filing for a Class 25 trademark (clothing, footwear, and headgear). Monster Aquaria Network needs to sell their branded merchandise in order to keep the sites going, but cannot afford to legally battle with Monster Energy Company to secure their right to continue to do so. The law is on the side of Monster Fish Keepers™ (they already hold a Class 38 trademark on their logo). They are not in competiton with Monster Energy Company in any way. The Monster Aquaria Network sites are a place of learning, and a supportive community of hobbyists and conservationists that deserves to thrive. Monster Energy Company, please stop your corporate bullying of small businesses and online communities. Please immediately halt your actions against Monster Fish Keepers™! Sincerely, [Your name] News Reached 8,000 signatures 1. A global pattern of abuse... by Nicole Putnam Petition Organizer Apparently, even grooming products overseas are not safe from the bullying tactics of Monster Energy: http://hackettandtiger.com/clients-and-testimonials/fightthemonster/ Check out Rehab London's concise, crystal clear letter to Monster Energy. It is so obvious that these two brands are entirely unrelated, with completely different trademarks. Please show your support of Rehab London (a range of natural men's grooming products in the UK) by using #FighttheMonster to spread awareness! 2. Don't forget to join the Facebook group for the latest updates! by Nicole Putnam Petition Organizer https://www.facebook.com/groups/SupportMonsterFishKeepers/ 3. What a twist, huh? by Nicole Putnam Petition Organizer In an ironic turn of events, the Beastie Boys are suing Monster Energy Co. for using their songs without permission! Let's hope they win in court - it looks like an open and shut case to me. Reached 7,000 signatures 4. Creeping along...time to sprint ahead! by Nicole Putnam Petition Organizer Hey everyone! Since we doubled our petition's goal, signatures have been accumulating, albeit slowly. Please be sure and share this petition with your online fish friends, and others close to you. Lastly, here is a new article from Tech Dirt...the more press, the better! P.S. If you get an "insecure content" notification, load it without the insecure content, even though I believe it's just a harmless JavaScript glitch. Reached 6,000 signatures 5. Redoubling our efforts...literally! by Nicole Putnam Petition Organizer As you have probably noticed, we have increased our target from 5,000 to 10,000 signatures. Why, you may ask? We at MFK realized that the steam had far from run out on this campaign! In fact, things are just starting to get rolling. Considering our member base at MFK is over 97,000 members (sister site Aquaria Central boasts over 130,000 members) 5,000 signatures would have represented a 3% response rate from MFK alone. Given that this petition is being shared internationally, we realized 10,000 signatures was a much more accurate representation of our global community. To end the petition prematurely would have amounted to denying thousands of people a voice. Please keep checking Support MFK for updates. On this page, a PayPal link to donate to the Support MonsterFishkeepers legal fund is available, for anyone wishing to contribute. Lawyers are expensive, and their billable hours add up fast. I know that I'm planning on skipping my latte this week and giving $5 to MFK instead. 6. We couldn't have done it without YOU! by Nicole Putnam Petition Organizer As we surpass the 4,000 signature mark, I pause to reflect on all the individuals that made this petition a success. I've had so many Facebook exchanges, email messages, thread posts and private chats with wonderful, dedicated aquarists who feel as strongly about this issue as I do...it feels fantastic to know there are so many of us out there! It affirms what I already knew - quite simply, that fishkeepers are great! Practical Fishkeeping wrote an article about this: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5108 For every person that I've had the opportunity to connect with, I know there are hundreds more who I haven't had a chance to personally thank. So, THANK YOU to all of the club members and officials, activists and international hobbyists who gave this petition worldwide attention. Without your efforts, the word about this campaign would not have spread at the pace that it did! Lastly, don't forget to bookmark and continue to share the Support MFK link: Reached 4,000 signatures 7. So, what is it about the word "Monster" anyway? by Nicole Putnam Petition Organizer It's just a word...but apparently these fat cat corporations think they can own it. Check out this article about Monster Cable Products Inc.. They apparently hold 70 trademarks on the word monster. "Absurd" is right! Reached 3,000 signatures 8. Well over 2,000 signatures reached! by Nicole Putnam Petition Organizer Fabulous job, everyone...we are almost at the halfway mark! However, when the petition ends, we don't want Monster executives to think it is the last they've heard of us. It's time to branch out! Send Tweets to athletes who have sponsored Monster Energy drinks, such as skaters Rob Dyrdek (robdyrdek) and Greg Lutzka (GregLutzka) informing their readers of our situation, with a link to this petition in shortened URL form. Also, don't forget to boycott the other brands that are under the Hansen's [Monster Energy] umbrella, such as Hansen's Natural (hansens.com), Peace Tea (peaceicedtea.com), Worx Energy (worxenergy.com) and Blue Sky (blueskysoda.com). This last one is a personal sacrifice for me, since I use their black cherry soda for making cocktails - but no more. Knudsen's Just Black Cherry Juice and seltzer water will have to do it for me from now on! More details can be found at the link below. Keep up the good work, and know how proud I am of our fishkeeping community! Reached 2,000 signatures 9. Monster media coverage! by Nicole Putnam Petition Organizer The Consumerist mentioned this petition today! It was also mentioned on Tropical Fish Hobbyist's Facebook page (one of a handful of mainstream magazine publications in the aquarium hobby). This is getting hot and heavy, folks. Please continue to spread the word, we are definitely getting close...beyond 20% of our goal within the first day! Keep up the good work. Reached 1,000 signatures 10. WordVixen on Squidoo's lens: Monster Energy Drinks Vs The World by Nicole Putnam Petition Organizer Big round of applause, everybody! We are going strong - 400 signatures in less than 24 hours is no small accomplishment.