Author Topic: Lawsuit Guitars (Read 593 times)

bigredbass · « **on:** May 14, 2005, 10:33:47 PM »

A while back, someone mentioned the website www.vintaxe.com as a source for manuals. It really is terrific for that, but there were links to various vintage sites. Going through these lists, I ran across several Japanese vintage sites and was stunned to see that 'lawsuit' guitars are REALLY alive and well in the Far East. Piecing together bits of information from quite a few, evidently this goes on without litigation as long as they don't wind up here in the Great PX.

Can anyone shed any light on this? I've never seen such amazing copies in my life. I'd mistakenly gotten the idea that this sort of thing was history by now. Boy was I wrong!

Glance at www.guitarsjapan.com, and tell me what you think . . .

J o e y

David Houck · « **Reply #1 on:** May 15, 2005, 05:00:56 AM »

Interesting reading, thanks.

(Message edited by davehouck on May 15, 2005)

lbpesq · « **Reply #2 on:** May 15, 2005, 09:57:49 AM »

Most of these appear to be older models. Also, I've never seen any actual lawsuits filed by Gibson, Fender, et al., only urban legends about the lawsuits. All anyone has to do is walk into a Guitar Center and you will find it stocked with numerous copies of Les Pauls, SGs, 335s, Strats, and Teles. (And, of course, Precision and Jazz basses). Even high end builders like Tom Anderson copy these shapes. I suspect there are no copyrights on the shapes.

Bill, tgo

the_mule · « **Reply #3 on:** May 15, 2005, 01:18:40 PM »

Well, there is the recent, much talked about copyright lawsuit of Gibson vs. PRS about the SingleCut model resembling the good old Les Paul too much. I still don't understand how Gibson succeeded to persuade that judge...

Wilfred

lbpesq · « **Reply #4 on:** May 15, 2005, 01:39:04 PM »

A lot of these lawsuits are actually not lawsuits. Rather, one company writes a cease and desist letter to the offender who often chooses to stop rather than incur the inevitable attorney fees which will be generated, win or lose.

Bill, tgo

keith_h · « **Reply #5 on:** May 16, 2005, 04:48:29 AM »

I am guessing that many of the older Fender and Gibson copyrights and patents have expired. Once this occurs anyone can use the information as they see fit. To try and extend control over their original ideas many companies will make minor changes to allow new a copyright or patent to be filed. This only covers the new product but could be enough to discourage other folks from copying old stuff. I also would not be surprised to hear some of these lawsuits end up being litigated as trademark disputes as opposed to copyrights or patents.

Keith