Strange Business Ideas That Made Millions

There are some crazy business ideas out there that shouldn't have worked but did, but there are also some that you can't even imagine where the idea came from...

I have compiled a list of some of the craziest and strangest (I'm sure there are a lot more but these are just a few to get you started...

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Copyright Infringement Universe Collapses In On Itself As Beastie Boys Sue Monster Energy Drink

So here's a copyright infringement lawsuit involving the makers of Monster Energy Drink in which they are the ones being sued and not the ones claiming ownership of an incredibly common word. Instead, the beverage company is the target of a lawsuit brought by the Beastie Boys, who claim Monster cobbled together dozens of their tunes to create promotional videos.

According to the suit, filed yesterday in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan:

[Monster], without plaintiffs' consent, synchronized and recorded certain of the Beastie Boys Musical Compositions and Beastie Boys Sound Recordings together with visual and other material in the creation ofpromotional videos for defendant Monster's products, including a promotional video for Monster's promotional event "Ruckus in the Rockies 2012" (the "Video"). The soundtrack of the Video is comprised substantially of excerpts from the Beastie Boys Sound Recordings and the Beastie Boys Musical Compositions totaling more than three minutes in duration.

On information and belief, defendant Monster has used the Video and similar promotional videos to create an association with the Beastie Boys and the Beastie Boys Musical Compositions and Beastie Boys Sound Recordings and defendant Monster's products, promotional events, and marketing, including on Monster's website www.monsterenergv.com and in various social media websites such as Facebook.

If the video weren't bad enough, the complaint alleges that in May of this year, "Monster caused a link to a downloadable audio recording (the "MP3") embodying a 23-minute medley of excerpts from the Beastie Boys Sound Recordings, the Beastie Boys Musical Compositions and the sound recordings and musical compositions comprising the additional Beastie Boys MP3 Copyrights to be posted on various websites [including Monster's website and YouTube] in conjunction with the Video, together with an offer that the MP3 was available for free download."

And it doesn't help Monster's case that the text accompanying the "Beastie Boys mega mix" reads, "With tracks from the Beastie Boys putting you in the vibe and a sponsorship from Monster Energy, this edit will make you want to ride and party like no other."

The Boys are seeking an injunction against Monster's use of the group's songs, as well as "a trebling

of defendant Monster's profits and actual damages sustained by plaintiffs, prejudgment interest, reasonable attorneys' fees and costs."

Speaking of copyright infringement, an urban legend surrounds the Beastie Boys' seminal 1989 album Paul's Boutique, claiming that the group swiped all or most of the more than samples used on the album. The Boys have denied these rumors, saying that they did pay for the use of the samples -- just not very much, as it was still a somewhat new way of producing an album at the time.

You can read the PDF of the lawsuit HERE.

The lawsuit comes as news outlets report that the last will and testament of Beastie Boy Adam "MCA" Yauch, who passed away in May, clearly states that the music he wrote and his image could not be used in any sort of advertising.

Huge thanks to Keith for the tip!

by Chris Morran via The Consumerist

Terms Of Service Too Long? This Site Reads Them For You

You don't always read the Terms of Service before accepting them. Not for hardware, not for software, not for websites. We're fairly certain that no one ever does. (Someone out there, please prove us wrong.) What we really needed all along is a service that reads over all of that legal language and gives you the highlights of the ToS, then explains which features are good or are bad for you as a consumer. Now that service exists. It even has little pictures that tell you which parts of the ToS are good or bad. Meet ToS;DR.

If you're not familiar with the term, "TL;DR" stands for "too long; didn't read" and signifies when someone on the Internet who is smart enough to use a semicolon is too lazy to read anything with more than 200 words. It's also how people label pre-emptive executive summaries on lengthy posts or comments. ToS;DR aims to create handy summaries for terms of service. They rate particular policies and requirements as "good," "mediocre," "Alert," or "informative." In this scheme, "Alert" signifies "Bad." Eventually, each site will be assigned a "class," from A to F, depending on how consumer-friendly its policies are.

The project is crowdsourced, open, and collaborative. If you're skilled at translating legalese into human language, can code in Javascript, or have other potentially useful skills, consider helping out.

ToS;DR [Official Site]

by Laura Northrup via The Consumerist

Computer That Touches Itself Comes Back From Dell In Worse Shape, Michael Dell Swoops In

Remember Travis, the college-bound student whose touchscreen Dell laptop keeps moving the mouse pointer around on the screen, among other problems? When we last heard from him a week ago, he was waiting for the computer to return to him from Dell's repair depot after two in-home tech visits, and he hoped the problems would be fixed. They weren't. All Dell did was replace the wireless card. So he turned to the advice we gave in the post, and wrote to Michael Dell. This got him a new laptop for his trouble.

We're sure being featured here on the site had nothing to do with it.

Thanks to your tips on this post When I got home I inspected my notebook and found they did not repair the screen or even attempted to fix the touchscreen, headphone jack, or bluetooth. They only replaced the wireless card and somehow made bluetooth worse, disconnecting everything every few minutes, sluggish mouse (takes 10+ seconds to move my mouse a inch) and slower then normal wifi.

I sent Michael dell an email and within 4 hours I got a call from Dell. They asked for the serial number and looked up the case and basically said that since it started from the beginning and each time it wasn't fixed then they will issue a rare laptop replacement.

When you can get his office to intercede, the Great Michael Dell and his staff do offer kindness to customers who find themselves consigned to Dell Hell. Can't mak Dell's regular customer service and tech support peeps see reason? Write to Mr. Dell.

by Laura Northrup via The Consumerist

Theater: If A Man Brings Bag Into Movie, He’s A “Possible Shooter”

While we can understand that some movie theaters might want to bolster up security in the wake of the shootings in Colorado that left a dozen moviegoers dead, some theaters are only taking a harder look at those of us who have Y chromosomes.

Take as an example the story of Consumerist reader Mitch, who dared to carry a small, cloth bag with him into the Omaha movie theater at which he'd previously seen more than a hundred movies.

In spite of that long history with no issues at this theater, Mitch was stopped when he tried to enter last night's preview screening of Hope Springs (because you know that bittersweet comedies about the withered marriage of a middle-aged couple is a prime target for mayhem).

The theater employee told Mitch he couldn't come in with the bag, a small messenger bag, which Mitch says is only large enough only to hold his Nook and a handful of other things.

"I opened it up and showed him the contents," writes Mitch, "The Nook, a few papers (including our tickets), chapstick, keys, and some hand sanitizer. That’s it. No gun, no knife, not even a sonic screwdriver."

Puzzled by this zero-tolerance policy, Mitch asked the employee, who has seen Mitch at this theater enough times to know him by name, what exactly the problem was.

“You could be a shooter," said the employee, according to Mitch. "We don’t know.”

The employee gave Mitch an option -- leave the bag in his car, or leave the theater.

The car wasn't really an option, as the 100-degree heat could damage his Nook, which is more important (and expensive) than a few movie tickets.

He asked the employee if he could speak to a manager. The employee then told him he is a manager.

"I ask for HIS manager, and a guy with a headset comes over," writes Mitch, who had noticed at least a half-dozen women walk into the theater, all carrying bags of some sort.

"The situation is explained again, and I point out that women are not being stopped, but men are. I repeat the first guy’s 'shooter' line and the second manager agrees that yes, I could be."

Realizing he wasn't going to be allowed in -- and that he couldn't risk putting his Nook into the oven that was his car -- Mitch handed one of the tickets to a female friend, who was able to enter with her bag going un-searched.

Before heading outside to wait for his remaining friends, Mitch took out his loyalty card and handed it over to the manager.

"I’ve seen more than a hundred movies at that theater since they opened," he explains. "I’ve bought concessions, I’ve brought new people in, I’ve spent way too much money there, and they simply don’t want it. They don’t want me as

a customer. That’s fine. There is no shortage of theaters in the area, and no reason to support a business that openly practices discrimination."

And it looks like Mitch wasn't being singled out for reasons other than being a male with a bag.

While he was I sat outside waiting for his friends, every man who had walked into the theater with a bag came walking back out in under two minutes.

by Chris Morran via The Consumerist

Stressed-Out Gate Agent Will Not Tolerate Tiny Purses On United Airlines Flights

Jarrod and his wife were returning from their vacation, flying United. Their flight was delayed, and they encountered a gate at 3 A.M. with a single employee working. They went to board their flight, and Mrs. Jarrod had a camera bag, a large shoulder bag, and a tiny travel pouch over her arm. Other airline personnel overlooked the tiny pouch, not even counting it as a "bag" for carry-on luggage purposes. Instead, the agent became just a little unhinged, not allowing Mrs. Jarrod on the flight until she nestled the little bag inside one of her other bags.

Wait, if one bag fits inside the other, what is the problem exactly?

My wife was carrying a camera bag, a large bag (kind of like an oversized purse) and a very small travel pouch/purse over her shoulder. Yes, we realize that we're supposed to be limited to "one carry on item and one personal item", but the small shoulder pouch barely took up any space and we thought it insignificant. In fact, we didn't have any issues boarding the flight from Hawaii to San Francisco.

As the agent scanned my wife's ticket, he looked her over and as she started to walk away he shouted at her, "you can't carry on three bags! You're limited to just two." My wife asked why since the small purse was so very insignificant. He said "it's the airline policy and that she would need to put the smaller purse into one of the other bags." My wife, said "OK, I'll do it" and started to walk down the jetway. He yelled at her again, "NO, RIGHT NOW!" Embarrassed, my wife fumbled about trying to put her small purse into the larger bag... and he proceeded to delay the boarding while he watched her put the purse into her larger bag. Laying it on top of the open larger bag/purse wasn't enough. It had to be inside the bag. She eventually shoved it in and started walking down the jetway without additional issue.

As soon as we were down the jetway, my wife pulled the purse out of the bag and had no issues boarding the plane or storing it underneath the seat in front of her with her other bag.

I guess this serves as a warning that thou shalt not carry any bag, no matter how small, in excess of the two you're allowed. But we think the situation could have been handled differently and in a more professional manner. Maybe by politely reminding us of the policy instead of being abrupt. In any event, I just had to vent. Thanks for listening.

by Laura Northrup via The Consumerist

Should Tenants Be Punished For Landlord’s Inability To Pay Water Bill?

The residents of a South Florida apartment complex could be on the street soon -- not because they failed to pay their rent or utility bills, but because their landlord has allegedly run up a $14,000 water and sewer tab and won't pay up.

This is just the latest story of tenants being royally screwed through absolutely no action of their own, and in each case we've covered, authorities have turned to punishing renters rather than going directly after the landlord.

"We can’t let the landlord get away without paying bills,” the mayor of Hallandale Beach, FL, tells Miami's CBS4. She says the city has no choice and that it has already extended the time for the landlord to pay up.

But this doesn't explain why the city has to evict the people who don't owe any money.

Surely, the city could place a tax lien on the property, or perhaps a lien against tenants' rent.

After all, these are people who want to pay their rent, so why not use that money to pay down the water bill, rather than have to bring in the Red Cross to assist and house displaced tenants?

“I feel like they just don’t care about us,” one to-be-evicted tenant tells CBS4. “Just the fear of not knowing where I’m going to lay my head next. No water to take a shower with. It’s really overwhelming.”

We've written to various city officials in Hallandale Beach to see if we can get a more detailed response as to why they would choose to evict the tenants rather than come up with a creative solution to the problem. If anyone responds, we'll let you know what they have to say.

by Chris Morran via The Consumerist