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Source link: http://archive.mises.org/8031/blue-jeans-slays-monster/

Blue Jeans Slays Monster

April 16, 2008 by

Kurt Denke is my new hero. He’s the former lawyer who is President of Blue Jeans Cable, a competitor of Monster Cable. When he received a cease and desist letter from Monster, who alleged some of Blue Jeans’ “Tartan” cable products were too similar Monster’s cables, Denke sent back a devastating and heroic reply. This is one of the best letters I’ve ever read. It’s heroic and ballsy, and strategically brilliant. Further, I think this letter can help illustrate the unavoidable practical difficulties that will necessarily plague any attempt to have an IP–that is, pattern privilege–system. It helps to highlight why such a system cannot be but unjust. These kind of expensive and intractable problems, inherent vagueness and bullying tactics, will always accompany a pattern privilege system. Any layman who is in favor of patent should read this letter, and think about the consequences of the system they advocate.

{ 8 comments }

Karen De Coster April 16, 2008 at 9:10 am

You are probably the first person to use the word “ballsy” on Mises.org.

Curt Howland April 16, 2008 at 9:50 am

I saw this linked from LXer.org, a Linux enthusiast and news site, and thought of sending it to you for an article here.

What a wonderful attack he made on frivolity! I think I’m going to put his

“Not only am I unintimidated by litigation; I sometimes rather miss it.”

…along side Greenspan’s

“irrational exuberance”

…on the tack board. :^)

Curt Howland April 16, 2008 at 9:51 am

Oops, make that LXer.com

bill wald April 16, 2008 at 4:04 pm

For anyone who cares about cables, month or so ago CBC TV techs compared a Monster Cable with the cheapest on line no name under $20 cable and found zero difference in signal quality.

Byzantine April 16, 2008 at 4:07 pm

Karen,

That’s not counting the forum. You can even say “funbags” in the forum without tripping the software. I know this.

You should post there. That way there’d be like, one chick posting there.

Anonym April 17, 2008 at 4:53 pm

Blue Jeans Cable company has been one of my favorite cable providers for years. It’s wonderful to see them stand up for themselves like this. To see more of the spirit of BJC see their HDMI Cables page: http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/hdmi-cables/index.htm

Excerpt:

HDMI is a digital signal format, developed primarily as a platform for the implementation of HDCP (High Definition Content Protection) to prevent consumers from having complete access to the contents of high-definition digital recordings. As one might expect from a standard that was developed to serve the content provider industries, rather than the best interests of the consumer, HDMI is something of a mess. The signal is not robust over distance because it was designed to run balanced when it should have been run unbalanced (SDI, the commercial digital video standard, can be run hundreds of feet over a single coax without any performance issues); the HDMI cable is an unnecessarily-complicated rat’s-nest arrangement involving nineteen conductors; switches, repeaters and distribution amplifiers, by virtue of this complicated scheme, are made unnecessarily expensive; and the HDMI plug is prone to falling out of the jack with little more than a light tug. As more and more manufacturers move to implement HDMI on more home theater devices, however, it falls to the consumer to try to make the best of this dubious and poorly-thought-out standard.

Great articles from them here: http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/index.htm

nicholas gray April 21, 2008 at 2:04 am

Let me be the first person to use ‘balled’, as in, “Many American Presidents act as though their national totem was the Balled Eagle, not the Bald Eagle!”.
And, considering that many more males than females are libertarians, I came up with the slogan- “It takes balls to be a libertarian!”
Is that ballsy enough for you?

Curt Howland April 22, 2008 at 8:09 am

Free Software Magazine has an interview with Kurt Denke about this happening and his letter, which forced me to discover how to use tinyurl.com…

http://tinyurl.com/5dlm3x

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