Posted on 04/15/2008 11:46:53 AM PDT by dickmc
Not long ago we reported that Monster Cable had issued a cease and desist letter to Blue Jeans Cable about their Tartan cables. Little did the lawyer drones over at Monster know that Kurt Denke, the president of Blue Jeans was, in a former life, a lawyer by trade. Oops! Someone pushed around the wrong "small" company! While we are no legal experts, we recognize humor when we see it. And this is funny. With Blue Jeans Cable's permission, we've included their full response to Monster's letter below. Kurt wants to keep this entire process completely open to the public and we're more than happy to oblige. Enjoy
__________
If you buy them and use them they are not overpriced: they are apparently worth what you pay for them.
__
That’s like saying if you pay 50 dollars for bottle of water and drink it that it’s worth it.
Blue Jean Cables and monoprice cables make the same products that monster make, sometimes even better. The difference is that you can pay 100-150 for a “monster” product or LITERALLY 5-10 dollars for the exact same product.
I have three bits to add:
1. I’ve only bought maybe $400 total from Blue Jeans over the years, and even I know Denke was a lawyer.
2. Any retail store that hard sells Monster Cable as an add-on NEVER gets my business.
3. This is the best read I’ve had this week, what a howl.
HAHAHAHAHAH!
Golly, I hate dumb lawyers and the lawyers for Monster sure seem dumb.
I would like to see the look on the lawyer’s faces at Mosnter cable as they read this letter.
Actually, despite their reputation, Monster Cables are on the cheap side. True Audiophiles prefer to spend thousands or even tens of thousands on cables, rather than mere hundreds. They believe their money is well spent.
Not all lawyers are scum.
Some reform themselves and get honest jobs.
Politician is NOT an honest job.
This is known in the trade as a "Kiss my @$$ letter."
The best part: "Not only am I unintimidated by litigation; I sometimes rather miss it."
I do too.
I hope he is holding a couple of aces and zaps them with Rule 11 penalties and triple damages. What fun!
“Careful, you’ll fire up the Freepers who think ALL lawyers are scum.”
Well, that depends. Is he a conservative?
But if they take him to court, he could demand that it be produced, show a notarized copy of the letter to a judge and get the judge to agree. Then Monster would be screwed.
I have to disagree. A "true audiophile" knows that Monster cables are a rip off, so paying even more than that would just make them an idiot.
A lot of what he’s asking for, in my opinion, isn’t discoverable, at least under the Federal rules. If he can get a judge to agree, then yes, Monster has somewhat of a problem. But that’s pretty unlikely, I think.
But even if he were to try to go in front of the judge, just writing the letter isn’t going to get him anywhere. He’d have to draft discovery requests, and then, when Monster refuses to produce, he’ll have to draft a motion to compel, and then a reply to Monster’s response. That’s $15-20k. Easy.
He said he was defense counsel in a lot of major litigation, and he knows this. He says he likes to fight, but it’s one thing to like to fight when you’re spending someone else’s money. It’s another thing when you’re writing the checks.
Sorry, the term I meant to use was “audiophool”.
I’m sorry, My little Sons are never going to allow me the time to read this whole thing. What’s the short version, please?
I got the impression from the article that he is willing to go that far. Question, what is the $15-$20k being spent on? There are court fees, but does that include billing hours or something more? And are the court fees really that high?
I purchase all of my cables and connectors from monoprice.
And I will have to disagree with you. Many an audiophile has no problem paying $50 to $100 a foot for speaker wire. Let alone $1,000 for an HDMI, RCA, or other cable.
DAYum!
Just a gentle reminder that discovery can uncover things that a plaintiff would prefer not be revealed . . . .
Last time I got Rule 11 penalties, we went through 2 depositions, exchange of interrogatories, and a summary judgment motion (with hearing) for a little over eleven grand. That would have been in 1992 or thereabouts.
My client got his money back, and we embarrassed the &^*^$(&* out of a plaintiff's PI lawyer. What fun!
“When you’re slapped, you’ll take it and like it.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.