Timeline: Rock Art vs. Monster Energy
(Morrisville, VT) – The stream of support for Rock Art Brewery continues on Twitter today as over 3,000 tweets have poured in over the last 30 hours. All tweets voice opposition to Hansen Beverage Co. for the ‘cease and desist’ order it sent to the small Vermont brewery. Hansen’s alleges that Rock Art is infringing on the trademark of its own Monster brand products.
At least 34 other beers have contained the word, “Monster,” at one point according to Beer Advocate so this case could have implications for other breweries attempting to trademark those beers, especially where Hansen’s is exploring entry into the alcohol market.
How did we get to this point? Here is a timeline of the events:
7/11/07 – Hansen Beverage Co. files two trademark applications for “Monster Energy” under the categories: “Non-alcoholic beverages, namely, energy drinks, excluding perishable beverage products that contain fruit juice or soy.” and “Nutritional Supplements.”
6/23/09 – Rock Art Brewery files a trademark application for “The Vermonster” under the category of “beer.” The brewery began selling the beer in 2007.
9/14/09 – A cease and desist letter arrives to Rock Art Owner, Matt Nadeau asking that Nadeau end its use of the mark and pay Hansen all legal fees in pursuing the matter. Diane Reed of Knobbe Martens Olson and Bear LLP, who represents Hansen Beverage Co. in legal matters, is handling the case. [FULL TEXT PDF courtesy of Green Mountain Daily]
Late Sept./Early Oct. – Nadeau offers “to stay out of energy drinks with The Vermonster, if they leave him alone in beer.” According to Nadeau, “Their lawyer stated that they are not concerned with energy drinks, that Monster wants to now get into beer,” and will likely continue to pursue action against Rock Art.
10/1 – The Stowe Reporter prints the first article on the subject [must register for access] with comments from Reed. Jesse Roman also gets comments from, Doug Riley, Trade Attorney:
“It usually spins out in the end in favor of the Vermont company, because it ends up being very bad for public relations” for the corporation, Riley said. “What I’ve seen happen — where the likable company is the good guys, with a homegrown local Vermont product, and on the other side is this big, faceless, conglomerate corporation — is usually the corporation will back off. It’s bad for publicity, and the Vermont company is really not a threat.”
“Lawyers tell them they must do this; if they don’t establish their rights to a trademark, it could be lost,” he said.
10/7 – The story picks up traction with more appearances in both Vermont and national newspapers. A major Vermont tv station, WCAX, also features it on its evening newscast [video here]. Dozens of national blogs also pick it up over the next week.
10/8 – Lukas Payette and Jeff Baker start a Facebook group in support of Rock Art Brewery against Monster Energy drinks. Several local businesses have removed Monster Energy Drink or Hansen Beverage Co. products altogether.
10/9 – In response to a now-deleted comment from Baker on the Official Monster Energy Drink Facebook Fan Page, a company representative replies, “Nobody cares, get a life.” To this date, it is one of the only, if not the only, public response on the matter from someone inside Hansen/Monster.
10/14 – Nadeau releases a 6-minute video on Youtube describing the history of Rock Art Brewery and his thoughts on the situation with Hansen Beverage Co. The video goes viral and is now easily the highest-rated brewery video ever on YouTube with over 320 votes and a 5-star average.
10/15 – Payette and Baker’s Facebook group now stands at 7,000 strong. Over 3,000 tweets have come through on the subject in the last 30 hours with memes such as #monsterboycott (nearly 2,000 tweets first started by @martinbowling).
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 15th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
[...] in even more sordid details on the most recent example of said practices, BeerNews.org has a timeline of events for the scuffle between Monster, Hansen, Anheuser-Busch, and Rock [...]
October 15th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Great timeline. Thanks for putting this together!
-Lost
October 16th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
[...] like Hansen who has revenues of around $600 million per year.Monster Problem for Rock Art – WCAX.comTimeline of Dispute – Beernews.orgA True Monster Attacks Rock Art Brewery – [...]
October 16th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
[...] Timeline of events – http://beernews.org/2009/10/timeline-rock-art-vs-monster-energy/ [...]
October 16th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Over 10,000 now.
October 17th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Nice work, man. Is 20k at the end of next week too bold?
October 27th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
[...] expecting more blow back than a champagne bottle of homebrew with over 30 carb tabs in it: (Morrisville, VT) – The stream of support for Rock Art Brewery continues on Twitter today as over 3,000 tweets have poured in over the last 30 hours. All [...]
November 5th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
[...] Monster Energy Drink (Hansen’s Beverage Company) threatens small Vermont brewery with legal action over their “Vermonster” beer. (link) [...]
December 22nd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
[...] Rock Art Brewery was sent a cease-and-desist notice from representatives of Hansen Beverage, makers of Monster Energy Drink. Its Vermonster beer would have to be renamed to something else because the name allegedly resembled that of Monster Energy Drink. Rather than lay down to the corporate behemoth, the company fought back using a viral social media campaign as its main weapon. Hansen and Rock Art would later reach an agreement and Vermonster is here to stay. [...]
February 25th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
[...] an article a little while ago about the power of social networking in a pre-litigation scenario. Beernews.org put out an article about a cease-and-desist letter that Hansen, owner of the MONSTER trademark, [...]
October 15th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Everything you want to know about Rock Art Vermonster, Monster Energy Drink, & the #monsterboycott tag http://bit.ly/3L0616
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 15th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Timeline: Rock Art vs. Monster Energy http://ff.im/-9TsaQ
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 15th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Timeline: Rock Art vs. Monster Energy http://bit.ly/2D90lh
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 15th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
balloonboy ? RT @bierkraft RT Everything you want to know about #RockArt v Monster #monsterboycott tag http://bit.ly/3L0616 via @beersage
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 15th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Just found this post which has a nice timeline of the Rock Art saga. http://bit.ly/qe4TR #monsterboycott #isupportrockart
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 16th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Timeline: Rock Art vs. Monster Energy http://tiny.cc/sRcoh
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 17th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Hmmm… Makes me wonder if The Hut should sue The Shack? #monsterboycott http://bit.ly/3L0616
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 17th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
@spikerogan It’s due to the legal actions they are threatening a small brewery. http://tinyurl.com/yj2tlxg
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 19th, 2009 at 1:04 am
@jchoe5 Rock Art Vermonster, Monster Energy Drink, & the #monsterboycott http://bit.ly/3L0616
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 21st, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Timeline: @RockArtBrewery vs. Monster Energy http://bit.ly/4jceER –Enjoyed delicious #Vermonster last night (cc: @TomPhilpott)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter