This story is just breaking…
MLM Company, MonaVie is being sued by Imagenetix Inc. for $2,750,000,000.00 (I believe that is $2.75 Billion!) in a trademark infringement lawsuit. The scary part of this is the fact that not only is MonaVie being sued, but so are a number of top leaders, including…
Dallin Larsen, Henry Marsh, Randy Larsen, Amy Cowley, John Brigham
Hart, Lita Hart, Steven Merritt, Gina Merritt, Corbin Roush, Holly
Roush, Charles Kalb, Deborah Kalb, Ronald Prudhomme, Brenda Prudhomme,
Edward Aristizabal, Shelly Aristizabal, Brian Cattano, Jill Cattano,
Matthew Curtis, Kimberly Curtis, Tina Dupart, Todd Hartog, Angelique
Hartog, Rodney Howard-Browne, Adonica Howard-Browne, Mickey Karshner,
Victoria Karshner, Jason Lyons, Carrie Lyons, Angel Matos, Grayson
Maule, Ken Porter, Robert Robinson, Linda Robinson, Devon Robinson,
Todd Smith, Stephanie Smith, Frank Soucinek, Jr, Cynthia Soucinek,
Brian Thayer, Jacqueline Thayer, Bo Vanpelt, Carrie Vanpelt, Black
Diamond University Inc, Darrell Utterbach, Tracy Utterbach, Joseph
Licciardi, Patrice Licciardi, Andre Walton, Penny Walton, James
Bellacera, Denise Bellacera, Kelly Bangert, Jillian Bangert, Eric M
Gutman, Rebekah Gutman and Does 1 – 10,000, inclusive
Apparently, MonaVie (and it’s leaders) has been touting a trademarked ingredient called Celadrin without the permission of the trademark owner.
My opinion:
I have long thought that there was a "culture of overlooking" at MonaVie. The company first caught my attention because of it’s associates illegal product claims like "curing cancer". So many of these crazy claims were taking place that it was obviously part of the culture within the company.
Culture and leadership are such a vital part of building a long term Network Marketing business and it appears as though MonaVie CEO, Dallin Larsen has sacrificed some of that for the sake of short term growth.
I will post more details as they roll in.
Ouch. This one's going to hurt MV badly, like put out of business badly. New post on my site, including a copy of the complaint.
Ty
This does not look good. I said in MLM forum that if they settle for a portion of the money or pay the whole thing they are screwed. Even 1% is 27 million dollars. They raised the stakes to almost 3 billion buckaroos for copyright issues. They will win it. It's pretty clear they are using Celadrin, and the company has no record of them asking permission. OUCH!
Joseph Lowe
I guess it was only a matter of time. I can't believe the whole "culture" behind the movement. You know it started at the top if every Tom, Dick and Harry is chanting the same thing. I don't mean to imply every MonaVie rep is guilty, but come on.
It's marketing, not medicine. When will they get that? My guess is about 20 minutes after the verdict comes in.
You have an MLM blog and appear to not know anything about MLM's…. a pack of independent people who do what they please no matter how loud the company yells and screams to shut up the illegal claims. Is there a "culture of overlooking"??? No, there are 1 million distributors and it's impossible to police every on of them.
With Monavie their success is their problem… many, many people are reporting health improvements after drinking the juice… and they can't help themselves by sharing it… even though almost anything they say can be considered illegal. Then you get people who, ala the telephone game, mis-interpret what they hear and pass it on. This happens in EVERY SINGLE MLM EVER. Tell me what nutritional MLM this doesn't happen in?????
And with Monavie's 1 million distributors, if only 1 in 100 are a problem, you've got 10,000 people causing problems. Which, by the way, are NOT the 10,000 they are naming in the lawsuit. It's the brand new people who don't know the problems they are causing.
Now if Monavie wasn't all that healthy for you, there would be no claims – no one would have anything to talk about – and the mis interpreted statments that end up sounding like "cure" claims would never arise. Or if Monavie had 100,000 distributers instead of 1 million, no one would bother suing them for anything.
Finally… a $2.8 billion law suit? Firstly, law suits like these take years and years and years… and I totally disagree that this is even remotely a slam dunk for Celadrin. Their chances of winning in court are about zero. Their chances of extracting money out of Monavie in an out of court and silent settlement are probably 90%. Monavie will pay, and continue using "esterified fatty acids" which Imagenetix calls "Celadrin" and Monavie once used on it's bottles…. but hasn't in about 2 years.
So one last thing…. why wait 2 years AFTER they used the name?????? Seems sketchy and fishy to me…. all of the above once again shows that your reporting barely brushes the surface of what's going on. Surely you're aware of the problems that ALL MLM's – no?
Why wait two years?
It's called building a case
It takes 2 years to "build a case"????? How dumb are their lawyers.
News flash – they are VERY dumb – expect a retraction of the law suit and an apology within a couple of days.
So who is dumber… the author of this blog who claims there is a "culture" of any kind when he knows NOTHING about the company? Tough call.
Wow, it really makes you think, be careful what product names you use with your claims.
An attorney from MonaVie has suggested that the comments in the post are inaccurate and defamatory, it is our policy to remove such comments.
– Editor MLMBlog.net
Debbie, wow! thats a piece of work.
a recuperating monavie distributor….ugh…
why dont you just say an unsuccessful network marketer with a poor spirit who operates within a mindset of scarcity. And you report on network marketing as a whole? stop the press!
your spewings are anything but accurate and verge on slanderous.
directly from this blog…..
Update: The MonaVie / Quixtar suit appears to be a "motion to comply" with a subpeona, not an actual lawsuit.
The lawsuit from Imagenetix was dropped.
What a crock about "EXFUSE",,,don't you mean EXFUZE?
Are you serious?! Why would Brig Hart, the highest paid distributor in monavie risk credibility by showing up at a meeting for seven (the product exfuze promotes). Brig makes millions of dollars a year with monavie and through R3Global which he owns and which teaches a system for doing the monavie business.
you say Dallin should ask Brig why he is at the meeting, but then you ask why Dallin would have his top check there. Huh?
Debbie, you are confused and obviously not very good at recalling events. here is some free advice. go back to whatever it is you did before you made the mistake of entering into network marketing and try to carve out a living doing that.
You give MLM a bad name, not Dallin Larsen.
Christian,
Wow… quite a venomous tirade there! Obviously Debbie struck a nerve, didn't she! The problem is, you attack "her" recollection of events without first making sure that "you" have your recollection in order. To wit…
>>Update: The MonaVie / Quixtar suit appears to be a "motion to comply" with a subpeona, not an actual lawsuit.
If you bothered to do "your" homework, you would have realised that the above filing was what started the legal ball rolling with Q/MV. What followed was two lawsuits, one from Q against MV and one from MV against Q. So, all in all Debbie is correct and "you" are mistaken (or maybe just misinformed?)
As for the Imaginetix lawsuit… its seems that the suit was dismissed yet the "only" statement that has been made about the dismissal was from Mr. Larson. No word whatsoever (that I have heard or read at least) from Imaginetix. Seems a little odd to not hear from the originator of the lawsuit especially since Dallin is touting a "new and exciting working arrangement with Imaginetix"!?
As for Brig… Do you know for a fact that he has not been in attendance at any other companies meetings? And I do mean "factually"! It's pretty easy to assume that simply because Brig is making millions from both MV and his tool business, he would "never" do what Debbie claims he has done. But, since we have "all" been taught that diversifying and creating "multiple" income streams is the smart thing to do, and since it is a well known fact that Dallin himself has made statements that there is "no problem" with "any" MV distributor, whatever their level, participating in other businesses, then it is also very easy to belive that Brig may in fact have been at those meetings. Since "I" have not been Brig's shadow during the times in question, I have "no way" of knowing whether he was or wasn't at those meetings. The same holds true for you… unless you were "with" Brig during the time(s) in question, then you "don't" know if he was or wasn't there. As such, you have taken a very bold step in the wrong direction by attacking Debbie on that point.
The sad thing about your post is that dialog such as yours, demeaning from start to finish, does nothing but fuel those who have a dislike for MLMs. Again, if you have "facts" to back up your statements, then you are well within your rights to comment about them. But, instead of attacking, might the wiser choice have been to "politely correct" someone elses mistake?
What do you expect Keith. Someone named Debbie comes along, makes up a pile of crap about MonaVie and you expect everyone just to sit back and ignore her. Just not going to happen. She is so far off base and just an out and out LIAR, even about her name, Debbie Cowley, which also means she or he is also lying about being a former MonaVie Distributor.
Josh S
It's easy to see that Brig could not have been at the alleged meeting that Debbie whoever she is mentioned. Just go to Brig's site and look at his indense meeting schedule. I guess he could have transported to Murray for the meeting and then back to his. Beam me up Scotty, there's no intelligent life here.
Josh S
Hi everyone,
I'm new at Direct Sales so be nice to me! May I ask why you folks are spending energy attacking each other instead of working your business?
Serioulsy, is this what I have to look forward to? I want to be excited about this.
Also, anyone out there know much about Exfuze?
Debbie Cowley??????? This is a perfect scenario of a weak attempt to bash a superior product through the internet from a company trying to duplicate the success of Mona Vie and ride the coat tails. Exfuze huh? Why even mention the product unless you are just trying to drive traffic to the site. It worked! I went their because I could clearly see the tactics you were trying to use (alright marketing I guess) BUT! Why drive people to a site when you are bashing a superior product? Mona Vie is clearly being proven time after time that it is having positive effects in ALL types of people in various areas. Look at the scientific proof to back it up, don't just take a distributors view on it! Besides just the product, the opportunity of the site you were "trying to market for" is an exact duplicate of Mona Vie! HA! It even looks like they cut and pasted a few things… I though that was pretty funny. Sorry but you have a long way to catch up to Mona Vie… When almost every company reaches the top or close to it there are usually a few law suits from dirty disadvantaged lawyers and companies waiting for them… That's just business. I am a Mona Vie Distributor and only got into the business because of countless hours of research and testimonials from HIGHLY accredited professionals and individual people. Go ahead and youtube it and see for yourself… A lot of MLM's can work but you have to make them work… Good luck and God Bless!
hmm, ExFuze. One year plus old company pretending to be in prelaunch with a MonaVie knock off (couldn't even come up with their own color, maybe they got a good deal on green neck sleaves) Interesting how some companies think that if you just look like MonaVie that you'll be wildly successful. It takes more than a bottle, it takes dedicated Distributors, heart, an outstanding comp plan and also a cause like the MORE Project. Otherwise, don't know much about ExFuze.
Josh
Wow! So I posted my comment not knowing this was such a popular site. I hop back on one month later to find that I have been obliterated! 🙂 Sorry Ty but I have been attacked so allow me the space to defend myself. Contrary to popular belief, at least on this site, I am not an exfuse (I have the spelling down now :)) distributor. It is a fair criticism to say that I was typing a rumor. However that rumor has been verified. The friend of mine who is involved in exfuse took a picture of Dallin Larsen on stage at the exfuse event. The location of this event was at the Riverton Community Center 12830 S Redwood Rd. Riverton, UT 84065. The date and time of the event was Tuesday, May 13, 2008
from 7:00PM – 9:00PM MDT. The event was hosted by Krista ang Greg Van Camp. Brigg was there and was introduced on stage. He said he was, "interested in the product and excited to be there". I am starting a blog next week and will post pictures of the event in question and possibly some video. As for his reasons for being there, if anyone has paid attention to Brigg´s own website and especially his peronal blog they would read first hand about his displeasure with (1) how the company has handled compliance after the amway lawsuit. Specifically the crackdown on health claims, one of Briggs many sales tactics. (2) Changes to the compensation plan. (3) Personality conflicts with the owners.
To my ctitics on here, I am not involved with exfuze, I am currently looking for a home in the direct sales industry.
Finally, none of you have addressed the fact that Dallin Larsen is a liar! The "top ten reasons to drink Monavie" pamphlet, remember that one? Up until the imagenetix lawsuit it was on their website. Do you know who authored it? Dallin Larsen. The number three reason to drink Monavie was "“Active” has the easiest to absorb & most concentrated form of Glucosamine and celedrin.¨" That my friends is a lie. He touted celedrin from stage, in literature and opportunity meetings when he knew full well the product had none. Liar, plain and simple.
Hey Debbie,
Wow, interesting information. I think you misstated above when you said Dallin Larsen. Reading further I noticed you said Brigg Hart. In your previous post you also mentioned "Monavies top check." Did you mean Dallin Larsen was on stage or was that a typo? Just looking to clear that up.
Thanks,
Laura
I have met so many people who are almost to the point of shoving their product down your throat and at the same time giving you the old I am your best friend, have good christian values, want what is best for your family yada yada yada. Beware of stangers bearing gifts! They can be your worst enemy and only out for themselves. Jim Bellacera for one. Comes across as this devout Christian, oh but do not stand up to him or refuse him in anyway as his vulgar abusive language that you would never see in the public eye will appear.. He is a fraud! Stay clear. He appears to be a saint beware of his temper and anger he holds within.. Every problem he has had is because of everyone else, he will never admit to his own failures caused by only himself! Do yourself a favor find a daytime job with secure pay and benifits. He will only tell you lies that will benefit himself only!
This lawsuit has been dismissed and after three days of being instigated. Please do not jump to conclusions when little information is present. You can now return to your normal lives…