DEL MAR, Calif. — A Del Mar personal trainer has been forced to go up against an energy drink giant. When filing for a registered trademark, Monster Squad Del Mar was stopped by Monster Energy.

“I’m not advertising their drinks. No logos, my logo looks nothing like theirs,” said Herman Jones, owner of Monster Squad Del Mar mobile training.

Jones is now prepared to fight for his business of more than 20 years after Monster Energy filed an objection to his trademark registration.

“This is a big company chasing me for what reason,” Jones said.

According to Jones’ lawyer Andrew Dhuey, the energy drink giant has a reputation of going after the little guy.

“They’ve done this nine times in the last week. They are averaging about one every calendar day,” Dhuey said.

Dhuey said every time a trademark application is filed with the word “monster” or even just the letter “m,” Monster Energy files an objection.

“I’ve been watching trademark bullies for a while now, and there is no bigger bully in the country than Monster Energy,” Dhuey continued.

Once a trademark is challenged, the process comes to a screeching halt. It can take years to play out and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, if a small business wants to defend their claim to their name.

“This is a big, big company look how much money they got. They got money to get you caught up in court and you won’t be able to pay your fees and you’ll lose any and everything that you have,” Jones said.

It’s for that reason, Dhuey is taking on the case pro bono and he hopes other lawyers will join him on similar cases, in an effort to help small businesses succeed.

“Unfortunately, a company like Monster Energy just wins by virtue of being a monster. A big multi-billion-dollar monster that is terrorizing small businesses all over the country just like Herman’s,” Dhuey said. 

FOX 5 reached out to the lawyer representing Monster Energy and sent a media request through Monster Energy’s website, but have not heard back.