Law Students Take Down Monster Beverage

It was an IP version of David versus Goliath. The founder of MonsterFishKeepers.com, one of the largest online forums for aquarium enthusiasts, enlisted the help of Boston law students to take on trademark litigant Monster Beverages. Li Chih, overseer of the forum, filed for a trademark for MonsterFishKeepers in 2012, hoping to make and sell T-shirts to the forum’s 100,000 members. Monster Beverages – a $28 billion energy drink conglomerate which last year filed more cases with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board than any other company in the U.S. – sued Chih, and threatened a legal fight that could cost him hundreds of thousands to resolve. Chih got help from Suffolk University Law School students working at a pro bono legal clinic, and earlier this year they emerged victorious.