If you get angry about frivolous lawsuits by big company bullies you'll love..

[mouser]

This filled my heart with joy:

"Monster Cable Threatens Blue Jeans Cable, Gets Ass Handed Back"

Read the very long and technical and beautiful letter written by Kurt Denke’s who runs a small cable company to the Monster Cable company which tries to threaten them with a lawsuit..

..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… I do not compromise with bullies and I would rather spend fifty thousand dollars on defense than give you a dollar of unmerited settlement funds...
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1985, I spent nineteen years in litigation practice, with a focus upon federal litigation involving large damages and complex issues. My first seven years were spent primarily on the defense side, where I developed an intense frustration with insurance carriers who would settle meritless claims for nuisance value when the better long-term view would have been to fight against vexatious litigation as a matter of principle...Not only am I unintimidated by litigation; I sometimes rather miss it..."

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/04/16/monster-cable-threatens-blue-jeans-cable-gets-ass-handed-back/#more-10518

[housetier]

Now that's legal speak I really enjoyed reading. Mr. Denke has a very good way of presenting facts and arguments. It's got a lot of fire but still seems to civilized!

If an open letter is the right way to respond remains to be seen, but it was worth reading 

[nudone]

great reading.

i'll remember not to buy any monster cable (and try to look for blue jeans cable instead).

it will be interesting to know what happens next.

[cranioscopical]

It's fun but -- and perhaps this is the whole point of it -- it almost forces Monster into a fight.

Good to see when people stand up for their rights. 

We should all do more of it with the way the world is moving.

[mouser]

The story brings to mind the image of some school yard bully who goes up to the new kid at school to try to steal his lunch money and tries to scare by pretending to know kung fu, only to discover that the little scrawny kid he's chosen to threaten is a young bruce lee 

[Renegade]

I believe the letter could be summed up in 2 words:

NSFW

FUCK OFF!

I liked these parts (he's warming up...):

Further, if any of these patents or trademarks has been licensed to any entity, please provide me with copies of the licensing agreements. I assume that Monster Cable International, Ltd., in Bermuda, listed on these patents, is an IP holding company and that Monster Cable’s principal US entity pays licensing fees to the Bermuda corporation in order to shift income out of the United States and thereby avoid paying United States federal income tax on those portions of its income; my request for these licensing agreements is specifically intended to include any licensing agreements, including those with closely related or sham entities, within or without the Monster Cable “family,” and without regard to whether those licensing agreements are sham transactions for tax shelter purposes only or whether they are bona fide arm’s-length transactions.

As for your requests for information, or for action, directed to me: I would remind you that it is you, not I, who are making claims; and it is you, not I, who must substantiate those claims. You have not done so.

And a big F-YOU!

As for signing a licensing agreement for intellectual property which I have not infringed: that will not happen, under any circumstances, whether it makes economic sense or not.

Another massive F-YOU!

Let me be clear about this: there are only two ways for you to get anything out of me.

Let me paraphrase the next one, "BRING IT M-F'R!":

Not only am I unintimidated by litigation; I sometimes rather miss it.

Another paraphrase, "AND THEN I WILL KILL YOU AND EAT YOUR CHILDREN!":

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.

Sweet mother of Jesus! That was AWESOME! I LOVED IT!

Thank-you so very very very much for posting that!

THAT ROCKED!

[iphigenie]

Oh, I must save that one - could reuse some stylistic bits next time I receive another one of those "you (...) domain infringes our US trademark on (...), hand it over or else" letters.

Thankfully I know enough to be able to respond "your trademark is in the wrong country and besides it is only registered for the ... market and there is absolutely no overlap and confusion with this domain of mine" but still...

I'd buy this guy many virtual drinks 

[ChalkTrauma]

OMG did that feel good.. That is what happens when you pick on enough people and start underestimate their abilities.. So many companies throw their weight around and abuse the system, nice to see someone with smarts and guts fall back on the same system to protect himself.. gives me hope.. 

[Mark0]

That guy is an hero! 

[tomos]

... technical and beautiful ...

truly

[f0dder]

That guy is an hero! 

Hehe

A hero - an hero is one of the evil internet memes.

[tomos]

A hero - an hero is one of the evil internet memes.

reminds me of the Stranglers song about Trotsky

"whatever happened to, Leon Trosky
he got an icepick, and cut his ear off
..
No more 'e[a]ros any more..."


[words from memory]
edit/ in other words if you're from [parts, at least, of] England, "an Hero" is not necessarily an evil internet meme

[Carol Haynes]

Maybe he should counter sue for defamation - I bet he'd win.

Brilliant letter

[Mark0]

A hero - an hero is one of the evil internet memes.

Thanks to you and tomos!
I know my English is rudimentary, so I appreciate corrections / explanations!

[mouser]

Freesoftware magazine has an interview with Kurt:
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/interview_kurt_denke_man_who_shut_monster_cable_up

[Deozaan]

Cool!

A hero - an hero is one of the evil internet memes.

Thanks to you and tomos!
I know my English is rudimentary, so I appreciate corrections / explanations!

Sometimes it is appropriate to use an instead of a for words that start with an H. I don't really understand all the rules myself, and I think it stems from British (and other European) dialects of English that don't pronounce the H at the beginning of words.

I was taught in school that you determine whether or not to use "an" or "a" depending on how the beginning of the next word sounds. If the beginning of the word after "a/an" has a vowel sound, then you use "an" but if it has a consonant sound, you use "a." For example, "an idiot," or "a moron."

But for some reason the rule is fidgety with when a word starts with "H." I've heard it properly said "an human" or "an history" but I was never instructed to pronounce it that way and it just doesn't sound right to me.

[nudone]

(yep, an human and an history are definitely wrong.)

[tomos]

I was taught in school that you determine whether or not to use "an" or "a" depending on how the beginning of the next word sounds.
...
But for some reason the rule is fidgety with when a word starts with "H." I've heard it properly said "an human" or "an history" but I was never instructed to pronounce it that way and it just doesn't sound right to me.

off-topic

I think those two tend to contradict each other at times depending on your accent - trying to say a 'istory is a challenge.
Then, is it an html editor or a html.. - for me it's "a" but I pronounce the "H" there a lot more than your average American/Canadian for example
... but I suppose rules are okay for writing

[tomos]

Freesoftware magazine has an interview with Kurt:
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/interview_kurt_denke_man_who_shut_monster_cable_up

nice to get a bit of background

[Carol Haynes]

I was taught in school that you determine whether or not to use "an" or "a" depending on how the beginning of the next word sounds. If the beginning of the word after "a/an" has a vowel sound, then you use "an" but if it has a consonant sound, you use "a." For example, "an idiot," or "a moron."

It also depends on how the vowel sounds. For example:

an umbrella
a unified theory

I think the h rule basically works on the principle of whether the h sound is needed so

a Hotel
an ... otel

the second pronunciation derives from the French origin of the word (but is consider pretentious).

Since hero requires the H sound you can't use 'an'.

You think English is bad - French spelling goes out of its way to disclose Latin roots - which is why time is spelled temps but pronounced completely differently!

[iphigenie]

French is my mother tongue and I agree it is bad - complicated grammar, nothing is pronounced or written as you think it ought to... it could never take over the world, because the world certainly couldnt be bothered. The last time french dominated the world was when it was the language of an aristocratic elite, and the complexity *helped* it in that.

It's still the best language to talk at length without saying anything though.

[nudone]

heheh, that's brilliant.

[Deozaan]

I was taught in school that you determine whether or not to use "an" or "a" depending on how the beginning of the next word sounds. If the beginning of the word after "a/an" has a vowel sound, then you use "an" but if it has a consonant sound, you use "a." For example, "an idiot," or "a moron."

It also depends on how the vowel sounds. For example:

an umbrella
a unified theory

Yes that's exactly what I said. Or at least exactly what I meant.

If the beginning of the word after "a/an" has a vowel sound, then you use "an" ...

(emphasis added)

I think those two tend to contradict each other at times depending on your accent - trying to say a 'istory is a challenge.
Then, is it an html editor or a html.. - for me it's "a" but I pronounce the "H" there a lot more than your average American/Canadian for example
... but I suppose rules are okay for writing

I did specifically mention dialects of English that don't pronounce the letter H at the beginning of words. I would say "An HTML editor." Sure, you say the letter "H" but it starts with the sound of the letter "A."

I think the "rule" can be summed up with something along these lines: You don't want two vowel sounds right after each other. It breaks the fluency (flow) of speech as you have to make a distinct pause in your words to differentiate the ending of the word and the beginning of the next.

Yet the rules of the English language are so complex that there are always special cases where they don't apply, so I'm sure someone would be able to point out a flaw somewhere along here.

[tomos]

all off-topic response to Deozaan  :-\

I did specifically mention dialects of English that don't pronounce the letter H at the beginning of words. I would say "An HTML editor." Sure, you say the letter "H" but it starts with the sound of the letter "A."

yes, yes, I was agreeing with you and commenting y bit more
btw

you say the letter "H" but it starts with the sound of the letter "A

that was omy point - I dont pronounce "H" starting with the letter "A" (I pronounce it like "hay" -I think we pronounce that similar..) - which is why i say "a html editor"
we'll have to start uploading recordings next and apologies to others for keeping thread very off topic

[wreckedcarzz]

Good reading - nice to see someone actually give some effort and fight back for once. I'll remember to tell everyone I know to not buy any Monster cables anytime soon...