If you’ve ever bought an HDMI cable (for a very reasonable price), you might be familiar with Monoprice. The California-based e-commerce company has made a name for itself in the past decade by severely undercutting big box store prices for cables and cords, but when Monoprice debuted its new 5.1 Hi-Fi Home Theater Satellite Speakers & Subwoofer system at $249, well, CNET along with loudspeaker company Klipsch took notice.
See, this system bears an uncanny resemblance to Klipsch’s very well-reviewed Energy Take Classic 5.1 system–which goes for $399. Now, CNET is reporting that on March 15, Klipsch and its subsidiary, Audio Products International, filed a lawsuit against Monoprice in federal court in the Southern District of Indiana, accusing the retailer of patent infringement. Klipsch is specifically seeking to stop the sales of the Monoprice speaker system and to receive triple the court-determined damages. Monoprice CEO Ajay Kumar has previously said the company “never purposely” sells products that infringe on another company’s patents.
