Dr. Dre might be the hip-hop billionaire and his name might be on the product line Beats by Dre, but he's not actually capable of designing and building headphones all by himself. The original line of Beats headphones were produced by Monster, best known originally for its high-quality line of audio cables. Now that company and its CEO, Noel Lee, are suing the Beats Audio company for allegedly using shady dealings to cut Monster out of the equation conveniently before being bought up by Apple for a huge amount.
Lee held a 5 percent share in Beats prior to being bought out, according to a report from USA Today, a total that would have amounted to more than $100 million when the Apple buyout was made. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, the other driving personality behind Beats Audio, reportedly bought back that 5 percent during 2013 but Monster calls the trans action a "sham." An attorney for the audio company stated that "had the partnership expired on its own terms, there would have been no transfer of Monster's years of work on Beats By Dr. Dre."
Beats and Monster had entered a five-year manufacturing and distribution deal during 2008, which ended during 2013.
Among the other allegations brought as part of the lawsuit is that Beats Audio aimed to conceal Monster's work on the product line, essentially an accusation that the former stole its engineering and design for the current line of headphones from Monster without due credit or payment. Still, the plaintiffs in the case are only seeking punitive damages. No dollar amount has been suggested as of yet. The lawsuit also suggests that those behind Beats attempted to damage Monster's reputation for product development, although no examples are given.
Reasonable lawsuit or haters hating post the big sale by Beats? We shall see.
