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Drinks company Monster Energy is threatening legal action against an indie developer for wanting to use the word ‘monster’ in a game title.
It wouldn’t be the first time. The company is reportedly a right stickler for coming after anyone who attempts to use the word monster in a trademarked title, which is pretty baffling. If someone said the word monster and asked me to name what came to mind, I’d probably say a creepy beast of some sort. Regardless, Monster Energy is seemingly after every penny it can get its hands on, with Glowstick Entertainment the latest studio to be targeted.
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As reported by GameSpot, indie developer Vincent Livings has revealed that the energy drink giant is reportedly coming after his studio Glowstick Entertainment over their game title Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals. He wrote, “It’s well known that Monster Energy is a notorious trademark troll. Unfortunately, they’re at it again. For a company that likes to target their drinks at gamers, they also like to try and bully & bankrupt game studios with lengthy high dollar litigation.”
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Livings continued, “Monster Energy's lawyers are coming after us right now, because Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals has the word ‘Monsters’ in it. They claim that our game is confusingly similar to their energy drink. Yep, that's really their claim. Rather than roll over, I'm going to fight them in court. I'll be sharing everything I've received from Monster Energy to give other game developers a look at their tactics in case they ever want to put the word ‘monster(s)’ in their game title and have to deal with Monster Energy as a result. They went after Ubisoft previously too.”
“Monster Energy is a bully that is owned by Coca Cola. Do not support a bully company by buying their energy drinks. If nothing else, I hope they eventually learn that going after game studios is not in their best interest.” The dev attached a sample of the terms provided to them by Monster Energy which also prohibits the studio from using the words ‘monsta’, ‘monstrous’, and ‘monstrosity’.
Topics: Indie Games