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Post subject: Intellectual Property Rights of Fender
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 12:20 pm
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I just read an article on Forbes.com about how Fender is re-evaluating the companies intellectual property rights. With so many knock-off Fender designed guitars out there, my question is: How does Fender protect their intellectual properties within the US, and outside?


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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:29 pm
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I wouldn't think that would be easy as far as overall design goes after all these years. They could work to protect custom shop models from close cloning and they could stop someone from using labeling or wording (on guitars, in ads, etc.) that closely resembed Fender labeling.

For an example of the latter: you call your guitar a Blender and put that in script on the headstock. You use the same "font" or whatever as Fender, angle it in the same way as the Fender decal on a real one. Throw in a few words about your Hyberian Cobalt Noiseless pups on the sticker on the front of the guitar -- and you could be in trouble.


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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:19 pm
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Fender has taken a good deal of legal action over the years. Of course, patents run out after 20 years, but the logo and the headstock shape are trademarks and protected as such. That is why you can't buy replacement Fender branded necks, so as to make it more difficult to upgrade a cheap rip-off into a real looking Fender guitar. The headstock is where the brand resides.

If you're interested, look into legal disputes Fender had with Japanese copy manufacturers back in the '70s. A particularly interesting case was Tokai. They made a Strat copy that was pretty much dimed, right down to the logo, which had Tokai written in the Fender-type script and made to look so similar that from any distance you would mistake it for a real Strat. Fender won on the legal basis that Tokai were "passing off", that is deliberately trying to get you to mistake their guitar for the genuine article.

Incidentally, that was the same part of trademark law Gibson tried to bring to bear on PRS's Singlecut guitar earlier this decade, on the basis that people would buy it mistaking it for a Les Paul. That time round they failed: the judge decided that none of us guitarheads would mistake a PRS for a Gib. They're similar - but not that similar. PRS's Singlecut went straight back into production after that decision.

An expensive and risky business, protecting intellectual property.

Cheers - C


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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:03 am
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How they do it is with lawyers, attorneys, and lawsuits. All those things cost money to fight in court, and most non-corporate and/or independent entities oftentimes do not have the resources to hire lawyers due to the price of the attorney, legal fees, and other costs associated with defending themselves in court...When you pay hundreds or more for a brand name guitar, much of your money is going to the legal and marketing divisions of that company...

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