Monster Energy’s concern about people confusing their products with someone else’s has led them to file complaints against more than 100 companies, including Pokémon.
According to Automaton, popular energy drink maker Monster Energy has filed a complaint with the Japan Patent and Trademark Office, asking them to cancel trademark registrations for more than 130 companies with the word “Monster”. Since Pokémon is an abbreviation for Pocket Monsters, including the word “Monster” in it, Pocket Monsters X/Y and Pocket Monsters Sun/Moon are both named. Monster Energy also named another video game franchise, the action role-playing game Monster Hunter. Monster Energy claims customers may have mistaken Pocket Monsters X/Y as part of the Monster Energy brand. In the end, the Trademark and Patent Office denied their claim, saying there would be no confusion.
Monster Energy’s complaint not only covers video games but also challenges the name of a smartphone app called “Monster Strike”. The complaint specifically targets the acronym “Monst,” as again consumers may confuse the app with energy drinks. Monster Energy even filed a complaint against the logo of a Canadian basketball team. The company claims the Toronto Raptors logo, which depicts a red basketball with a Velociraptor’s claw ripping through it, is too similar to the Monster Energy logo, the “M” represented by the monster’s claws. The Trademark and Patent Office also concluded: “yes [was] there is no danger of confusion.”
Monster Energy’s successful trademark claim
While Monster Energy’s recent complaints proved unsuccessful, the company successfully filed a complaint in April 2020 against Ubisoft Entertainment. Due to a trademark dispute with Monster Energy, Ubisoft Entertainment was forced to change the name of Gods and Monsters to Immortals Fenyx Rising because the beverage company believed that consumers might confuse the video game name with their own because Monster Energy had sponsors esports and video game teams. However, according to Kotaku, Ubisoft Entertainment denied the name change was related to the trademark dispute, saying: “The game has changed so much, that we felt the need for a new name to be more appropriate. with that updated vision. “
The beverage company has pursued many other companies and organizations around the world, intending to be the only company still standing with the word “Monster”, the logo and the word “beast”. In a way, the company has lived up to its name and tagline in its sinister trademark campaign. It filed a lawsuit against an original brewery because the name included “Beast,” which bore too many similarities to Monster Energy’s “Unleash the Beast” tagline. The company filed a trademark complaint against a UK pizza company, which won in court.
Source: Automaton, Twitter
![My Hero Academia fans celebrate [SPOILER]the return of](https://animez.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/My-Hero-Academia-fans-celebrate-SPOILERthe-return-of-350x250.jpg)
