September 14, 2009 is a day that challenged the reality of the American Dream that Matt and Renee Nadeau have been living in Morrrisville, Vermont. It's a "monster" of an issue.
Small
The Nadeau's, Owners of Rock Art Brewery, have a legal trademark case on their small business plates that began with the name of their 10-year celebration ale, "The Vermonster". The Nadeau's case hits close to home for a small town girl like me. As the daughter of a small business owner, a current consultant for small B2B companies with some even smaller clients - there is no way I could turn my head to the Trending Topic on Twitter today, #boycottmonster.
If you don't have a Twitter account you can still search hashtags and keywords in Twitter. Here is a link of a Twitter search for #boycottmonster, the trending topic that caught my eye. Even a Google search results in quite a few articles and blog postings about the recent news of Monster vs. Rock Art Brewery.
Media
To get the official details of how this has unfolded, The Nadeau's have posted the cease and desist (c&d) order and their formal response on the Rock Art Brewery website. Matt Nadeau stated in a YouTube video entitled, "Matt and 'The Monster' Rock Art Brewery vs Monster Energy Drink" (also posted on the Rock Art website) how wonderful the support has been from across the country, which is all a result from utilizing the media to plead his case.
As stated in the Nadeau's response letter, Hansen's Natural Corporation (owns Monster) wants to get into the alcoholic beverage industry, and that's why they have asked Rock Art Brewery to c&d their Vermonster beer - and not asked Ben & Jerry's to c&D their Vermonster ice cream. Many other 'Vermonster' titles exist, including a corn maze, monster truck and a musician.
Principal
The Nadeau's were told they would ultimately lose by default in court, and have to change the name of their beer. The professional recommendation? To change the name of the "Vermonster" and move on. But Matt stated with passion in the YouTube video, "I have to stand up for this. Change the name and move on. No, I can't do it."
The verdict is unknown, but what we do know from Matt Nadeau - we can all stand up for what we believe in... no matter how deep (or shallow) our wallets are.
-Jacq (@jacqsmith)
