Losing Respect, it seems to be the "in" thing

chaptereight (Photo credit: grasshopperkm)

Lately I've been fascinated by the stupidity of some companies in their little "power trips", mostly Monster Energy Drink and Apple.

For those of you that aren't aware, I'll quickly recap, Monster Energy Drink has submitted a cease and desist order against a small organization called MonsterFishKeepers.com a group who is about keeping, breeding and raising larger hobby fish, like Oscars.

In that cease and desist, Monster Energy demands that MFK stop using the word "Monster", the letter "M", and the color green among some other stupid requests. You can read more about it here.

Also in the court of stupidity is Apple vs. Samsung where apparently it's boiled down to Apple claiming that they patented the "rectangle" and now Google, Samsumgs longtime business partner is getting into the act with trying to stop all imports of Apple products to the U.S.

I'll be honest, both companies are being dumbasses. I mean really? the letter "M" and the rectangle? What next, the air that we breathe? I used to love Monster's Java Monster drinks and I did want an iPhone but not anymore.

I can understand where both companies are coming from, they want to maintain that competitive edge and be on top, it's what companies strive for, to be successful and make a profit. However for me, when a company does stupid things like this it drives me away from them, I don't want anything to do with that company or support them in any way.

Another example of this is the case where a man was awarded $1.5 million because the Ryobi table saw he was using didn't have the SawStop technology and he cut his hand. With this one, it was a contract worker whom wasn't trained properly on the use of the saw, and all the existing safety features were removed by his boss. His boss wasn't sued and came out smelling like roses and Ryobi had to pay the money. Needless to say, the majority of my power tools are Ryobi brand.

What is it that drives companies or people to create ridiculous law suits? It ties up the courts and resources that should be used for more important and bigger issues. It costs both parties a lot of money which we, the consumer, end up paying for in higher prices, and it makes the company lose credibility. I guess this is partly why I switched to using Linux and open source. Those whom are in it for the better and development of, instead of making a profit is more appealing to me and I'm more willing to use their products and support them. I know my choice doesn't really matter much in the overall future/bottom line of these companies but as consumers, we do have the ability to work together and send a message to those companies.