Monster Beverage Corporation has been criticized for its policy of suing companies or groups that use the word "Monster", the letter "M", or the word "beast" in their marketing for trademark infringement. By 2019, the company has initiated over a thousand trademark cases that have been reviewed by the US court system or US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, making them a poster child for "trademark bullying" which the USPTO defines as "a trademark owner that uses its trademark rights to harass and intimidate another business beyond what the law might be reasonably interpreted to allow."