I was at one of my local guitar stores today (which does not sell ANY Fenders), and went to go look at what guitars they had (I was going to try out some pedals), and all they had were copies!! They had guitars that looked identical to Strats (except for a minor difference in the headstock), identical to Teles (even the recognizable Tele pickguard!), even other guitars that looked EXACTLY like Gibson Les Pauls!! I was wondering, why doesn't Fender sue companies like this until they are no more? These knock-off companies are trying to make money on a great design that isn't even theirs!!

Oh so frustrating!

_________________
Check out my guitar news blog: http://guit-news.blogspot.com/

Fender and gibson turned a blind eye for too long. they were able to protect their headstock shapes, but recently lost court rulings because the shapes are now considered generic, because they let it go so long.

You want crazy:
Gibson lost the trademark for Les Paul in Finland. According to the court, Les Paul has become a common noun for guitars of a certain type. The lawsuit began when Gibson sued Musamaailma, which imports Tokai guitars, for trademark violation. However, several witnesses testified that the term "Les Paul" denotes a character in a guitar rather than special guitar model. The court found it also aggravating that Gibson had used Les Paul in plural form and that the importer of Gibson guitars had used Les Paul as a common noun. The court decision will become effective, as Gibson is not going to appeal

_________________
I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

because the Strat and Tele Designs are way to common for them to be able to sue anymore I believe

and as for the Gibsons they have sued and only got the copies to use different headstocks

And neither of the companies hold a candle to Rickenbacker in the lawsuit area, they have copies of their guitars removed off of eBay

They only patented the headstock so the body shapes belong to the public domain. In other words anyone can make a copy as long as it has a different headstock. The one positive is that the names are so famous that it is frowned upon having a copy or else they would be in serious trouble as both companies bread and butter models are 50 to 60 years old.

How about suing for all those "Mexi-caster" knock offs of proper Fender guitars coming up from South of the border?

Sometimes I crack myself up!

_________________
"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

If you could get folks not to buy copies... there wouldn't be any...

_________________
Hey, Boy Blue is back!

No copies for me. If I want Brand X, I buy Brand X. Unfortunately not very one can afford to do this. We live in a world of gotta have it now, so copies appeal to these people.

_________________
RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head