Monster fights back in Bang energy dispute
Monster Energy has accused the creators of the Bang energy drink of false advertising, anti-competitive behaviour and stealing trade secrets.
In a filing on Wednesday, April 3 at the US District Court for the Central District of California, Monster said a former employee who is now working for Vital Pharmaceuticals (VPX) stole its trade secrets before leaving.
Monster said the employee “not only lied about returning his Monster-issued electronic devices and documents, he downloaded five USB sticks of confidential information” before leaving.
It claimed that the employee accessed the files even after he began working at VPX.
Additionally, Monster said VPX was “cheating government regulators” and “ignoring health and safety laws” with the advertisement of Bang.
Monster alleged that Bang does not contain the chemical compound creatine despite VPX advertising that it does.
It said VPX heavily relies on the “false claim” that the “Super creatine” in Bang is patented technology and the patent number is printed on each can, but “the beverage does not practice the patent”.
In its complaint, Monster also said VPX engages in anti-competitive behaviour by “stealing valuable in-store shelf space”.
According to former VPX employees, VPX has instructed Bang distributors to displace Monster’s energy drinks from its contractually guaranteed shelf-space in stores and replace them with Bang, Monster said.
In a statement, Monster said it filed the suit to hold VPX “accountable for its deception”.
The company said: “From fraudulent health claims to touting an invalid patent to outright theft, our complaint provides many documented examples of Bang’s false, misleading, anti-competitive, and improper actions.
“It is time that Bang is finally held accountable for its deception. We look forward to presenting all of the facts and revealing the truth about Bang,” it added.
In a statement to WIPR, VPX described Monster's filing as a "cheap, sensational 'press release' dressed up as a complaint".
"Monster is simply living up to its reputation of being an overly litigious 'bully' and employing scorched-earth tactics to deal with perceived competitors," it said.
"VPX trusts that consumers will see past Monster’s long-history of vexatious litigation and its inability to compete with VPX’s Bang® energy drink in the marketplace. We will address Monster’s sham complaint in due course and are confident that Monster’s lawsuit will suffer the same fate as its prior suits against us—dismissal," it added.
The complaint comes after VPX accused Monster of trademark infringement last week.
VPX said the packaging of Monster’s “knock-off brand” Reign was “nearly identical and confusingly similar” to its own trade dress for Bang.
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