Fender loses guitar copyright case

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  • CSM
    Full On Cocktard
    • Apr 2007
    • 47

    Fender loses guitar copyright case

    Fender loses guitar copyright case
    "Now we gotta make the best of it, improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin, shit happens, I Ching, whatever man, we gotta roll with it." Vincent
  • ELVIS
    Banned
    • Dec 2003
    • 44120

    #2
    Dude, figure out how to post the article, not just the link...


    Comment

    • CSM
      Full On Cocktard
      • Apr 2007
      • 47

      #3
      Originally posted by ELVIS
      Dude, figure out how to post the article, not just the link...


      Most sites don't allow you to re-post their material since it is copyrighted hence just a link.
      "Now we gotta make the best of it, improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin, shit happens, I Ching, whatever man, we gotta roll with it." Vincent

      Comment

      • sadaist
        TOASTMASTER GENERAL
        • Jul 2004
        • 11625

        #4
        Originally posted by CSM
        Most sites don't allow you to re-post their material since it is copyrighted hence just a link.
        Fuck it, I'll do it. They can come after me directly if they're upset. I've got $145.63 in my savings account currently...have at it.



        "The Stratocaster body outline is so common that it is depicted as a generic electric guitar in a dictionary"


        Outline is "generic electric guitar"

        Michael Leonard, Tue 31 Mar 2009, 2:45 pm BST

        Guitar makers Fender have lost an application to make its Stratocaster, Telecaster and Precision guitar body shapes a trademark in the USA.

        Similar applications have previously been rejected, both in the UK and the rest of Europe.

        In the court case, Fender had targeted the designs of Stuart Spector Designs, US Music Corporation, ESP Guitars, Sadowsky Guitars, Lakland Musical Instruments, Peavey Electronics, Warmoth Guitar Products, Schecter Guitar Research, Michael Tobias and others as infringing its designs.

        But the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office said:

        "Fender refers to the 'iconic' status of these [instrument] outlines in American popular culture. However, we must resolve a narrow issue: Do consumers associate these two-dimensional outlines, depicted in the drawings, as indicators of source?"

        5 years wait

        The litigation has lasted five years and included over 20,000 pages of evidence demonstrating countless companies who have sold guitars that use the body shapes that Fender sought to trademark

        "The applicant has not established acquired distinctiveness such that these two-dimensional outlines of guitar bodies, standing alone, serve to indicate source," the TTAB concluded. "The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that these configurations are so common in the industry that they cannot identify source.

        "In fact, in the case of the [Stratocaster] body outline, this configuration is so common that it is depicted as a generic electric guitar in a dictionary.

        This is a Fender


        This is not a Fender


        Fender loses guitar copyright case | musicradar.com

        USPTO TTABVUE. Proceeding Number 91161403
        “Great losses often bring only a numb shock. To truly plunge a victim into misery, you must overwhelm him with many small sufferings.”

        Comment

        • ELVIS
          Banned
          • Dec 2003
          • 44120

          #5
          Bullshit!

          On top of that, the link you sent me before and this link does not work...


          Comment

          • sadaist
            TOASTMASTER GENERAL
            • Jul 2004
            • 11625

            #6
            I always wondered how all these Strat copies could be made legally. Kinda lame for Fender since it is their design. The problem is this lawsuit is 30 years too late.
            “Great losses often bring only a numb shock. To truly plunge a victim into misery, you must overwhelm him with many small sufferings.”

            Comment

            • ELVIS
              Banned
              • Dec 2003
              • 44120

              #7
              And I can tell that second image of a guitar is NOT a Fender in a second!


              Comment

              • ELVIS
                Banned
                • Dec 2003
                • 44120

                #8
                Originally posted by sadaist
                I always wondered how all these Strat copies could be made legally. Kinda lame for Fender since it is their design. The problem is this lawsuit is 30 years too late.
                That's true...

                Comment

                • sadaist
                  TOASTMASTER GENERAL
                  • Jul 2004
                  • 11625

                  #9
                  Originally posted by ELVIS
                  And I can tell that second image of a guitar is NOT a Fender in a second!


                  Really? Not me. I'm not that good with telling unless it's the headstock shape. The body in those pics look the same to me. The only difference I see other than the Rosewood vs. Maple fingerboard is the Fenders neck is rounded slightly at the end while the copy's neck is cut straight/flat across.
                  “Great losses often bring only a numb shock. To truly plunge a victim into misery, you must overwhelm him with many small sufferings.”

                  Comment

                  • sadaist
                    TOASTMASTER GENERAL
                    • Jul 2004
                    • 11625

                    #10
                    Wait...is it the pickup config? Doesn't Fender make some models like the one in the 2nd pic?
                    “Great losses often bring only a numb shock. To truly plunge a victim into misery, you must overwhelm him with many small sufferings.”

                    Comment

                    • ELVIS
                      Banned
                      • Dec 2003
                      • 44120

                      #11
                      I can tell by the wood, the placement of the pickguard screws, the pickguard itself, the body shape, the bridge and the saddles, etc...

                      I KNOW Fender when I see it...


                      Comment

                      • ELVIS
                        Banned
                        • Dec 2003
                        • 44120

                        #12
                        BTW, the "Fender" pictured looks to be a Made in Mexico Strat and not an authentic American version...

                        Comment

                        • sadaist
                          TOASTMASTER GENERAL
                          • Jul 2004
                          • 11625

                          #13
                          Originally posted by ELVIS
                          I can tell by the wood, the placement of the pickguard screws, the pickguard itself, the body shape, the bridge and the saddles, etc...

                          I KNOW Fender when I see it...



                          Nice. My eye isn't that trained. I only see the differences I stated above. But then I could never even find all the missing stuff on the back of my Capt. Crunch cereal box either.
                          “Great losses often bring only a numb shock. To truly plunge a victim into misery, you must overwhelm him with many small sufferings.”

                          Comment

                          • ELVIS
                            Banned
                            • Dec 2003
                            • 44120

                            #14
                            In fact, I know it is...

                            Comment

                            • sadaist
                              TOASTMASTER GENERAL
                              • Jul 2004
                              • 11625

                              #15
                              On a side note...both of those pics are better than what I'm currently playing.
                              “Great losses often bring only a numb shock. To truly plunge a victim into misery, you must overwhelm him with many small sufferings.”

                              Comment

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