An indie developer is publicly documenting their fight againstMonster Energy, which filed a trademark dispute over the title of the 2020PCgameDark Deception: Monsters and Mortals. Monster, a Coca-Cola-owned energy drink maker, is well known for aggressively targeting video game developers with trademark disputes. These disputes have rarely gone to trial, however.Dark Deception: Monsters and Mortalsdeveloper Glowstick Entertainment is planning to fight the effort from Monster Energy, though.Monster Energy has targeted all manner of food, drink, video game, and other products over not only the word “Monster” but also any language from its slogans or other trademarks. Those terms include “Unleash the Beast,” “Reign,” “Super Fuel,” and even the letter “M.” Examples of trademarks that Monster Energy has filed against include “MONS,” “MONSTIK,” “MONXTER,” “1M,” “UNLEASH THE BUBBLES,” “MUNSTER CRAVINGS,” and many others. Monster Energy has filed hundreds of disputes just over the past several years, including against games, perhaps due to its frequentMonster video game promotions.RELATED:Death Stranding: Director’s Cut Removes Monster Energy Product PlacementGame developer Glowstick Entertainment is just one of Monster Energy’s most recent targets. CEO Vincent Livings has made a Twitter thread going into the details about the situation, shedding light on what Livings says is Monster Energy’s effort to “bully & bankrupt game studios with lengthy high dollar litigation.” Livings says that rather than “roll over,” they’re going to fight Monster Energy in court to protectDark Deception: Monsters and Mortals. They claim, understandably, that it’s absurd to imagine their game title would be confused with Monster’s energy drink trademarks.
Livings goes further than just promising to follow through on litigation, however. He’s also asked his Twitter followers and those keying into the issue to stopsupporting Coca-Colaand Monster Energy. He says, “I hope they eventually learn that going after game studios is not in their best interest.” Livings follows that up with the hashtag “#boycottmonsterenergy”.
What’s especially interesting about the situation is that Monster Energy has offered a compromise to theindie game developerover the usage ofDark Deception: Monsters and Mortals. An agreement shared by Livings would allow the company to use the name, but only after agreeing to some serious restrictions. Those restrictions include never registering a trademark with the word “Monster,” or any variation of that word or Monster Energy’s other trademarks, ever again. That includes Monster Energy’s “M”-shaped logo, which could theoretically mean Glowstick Entertainment couldn’t release a game with the letter “M” in it again.
Rather than take the agreement, Livings says he wants to fight it. Even if he fails, he wants to embolden other game studios to fight trademark trolling like what he alleges Monster Energy is doing in the future. Livings even goes so far as saying he’s disappointed Ubisoft chose not to fight Monster Energy when itrenamedGods and MonsterstoImmortals Fenyx Risingin 2020. He says Ubisoft’s decision has only emboldenedMonster Energyto target studios like Glowstick Entertainment.
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