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Post subject: cough cough trademark/copyright violation cough cough
Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:42 pm
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Heres a vid from Brent Mason on Youtube.

Contrast that with his new Valley Arts Gibson heavily modded tele.

I didn't think they could do this sort of thing?


Here's video A... clearly a Fender Tele

Here's Vid B... not so clearly a Gibson/ValleyArts but clearly a rip off of the tele shape..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaP97Z5b ... re=channel

Wow a good job copying.

Anthony Park


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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:42 pm
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people make copys of fender guitars all the time.
That guitar cleary isnt named a telecaster and it has a different headstock and slightly different body shape so i see no problem with copy right problems.


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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:43 pm
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Yeah ...but Gibson sues just about everyone for anything close to resembeling a design. (They may even sue me for this communique.....)
They sued PRS for the double cut......I could go on...but I won't.
So I don't take issue w/ anyone pointing out Gibson's "infringements".
Funny thing is he still plays his modded FENDER.... :roll: 8)


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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 7:25 am
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Fender body styles are not trademarked, only the headstocks are as others have mentioned...

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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:11 am
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Brent's sound and playing through that amp sounds good. I've always liked his ability to 'tear it up'....uh...what was the question.. :?


:wink:

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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 6:41 pm
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As long as they don't copy the headstock...

But Gibson are indeed sum big hypocrites... does anyone remember that ridiculous Gibson "Signature" Jimi Hendrix "Strat" model? Right after losing the case to PRS...Hopefully it has been canceled for good...


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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:27 am
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Iago wrote:
As long as they don't copy the headstock...

But Gibson are indeed sum big hypocrites... does anyone remember that ridiculous Gibson "Signature" Jimi Hendrix "Strat" model? Right after losing the case to PRS...Hopefully it has been canceled for good...

Yup, headstocks are a trademark. But it's ridiculous how Gibby goes after companies for body shapes. And the Hendrix "Strat" that was pretty blatant.
Mason can do his thing, but he still hplays his Fender. :lol:


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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:27 pm
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Didn't Fender lose the trademark on the Strat and Tele body shapes because they weren't aggressive enough in protecting them from infringement? I believe that FMIC tried to protect body designs, but by that point the Strat shape had been deemed generic. Blame CBS, I suppose, for not shutting down the copies originally. As easy as it is to find fault with Gibson these days, it's hard to blame them for protecting their designs.


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Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:55 pm
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Google fake gibson guitars, if you wan't to have some fun. I believe he uses Tone -Tubby speakers in a twin reverb? GOD what a player.


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Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 7:56 am
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mhhayes wrote:
Didn't Fender lose the trademark on the Strat and Tele body shapes because they weren't aggressive enough in protecting them from infringement?


No. Fender only originally protected the shape of their headstocks. It was not too long ago, can't remember exactly when, that FMIC applied to protect the body shapes of the Strat and Tele but they lost that argument based on the fact they had let others copy their bodies for decades and those shapes no longer distinguished them from the rest of the market. Gibson is in the same boat. they try to manipulate the system any way they can but the factor that keeps defeating them is the fact that, historically, they really only protected the "open book" shape on their headstocks. Both companies operated under a gentleman's agreement back in the day that they would only cry foul if some company actually threatened their livelihood by making copies that were TOO close in look, sound and quality. Ibanez was one of those companies. Back in the 70's they made a Les Paul copy that actually used the Gibson and Les Paul names in the same fonts and locations. It literally looked exactly like a Les Paul. It SAID Les Paul on it. They thought they could fly under the radar because it was a bolt neck but Gibson sued their butts.

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Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 9:36 am
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Reminds me of when Harley Davidson tried to Trademark the sound a Harley engine makes when idling, the famous, 45 degree crank Potato Potato Potato sound.

Story goes that some attorney challenged Harley to provide a factory expert that could distinguish this sound from others like it. If it was indeed a unique sound then surely they could provide an employee who could tell if a sound her heard was really a Harley.

The guy identified a pair of tennis shoes in a front loading clothes dryer as a Harley, pretty much shutting down the case.

Big Ron


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Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 12:05 pm
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Now that is a neat story. I'm gonna have to try that.


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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:17 am
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Well it does look just like Brents#1 Tele that is for sure. Seems lately like Gibson is on a Fender kick.lol Brent is one of the sickest players in the world. The fact that he uses a thumbpick makes coping some of the unique stuff he does not so easy, not that it would be easy anyway. That is how good the guy is.


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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:18 am
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Of course anyone can sue anyone for anything. The question is whether you can prevail. Most of prevailing is having deep enough pockets to keep paying the legal and investigative team while years drone by in appeals court and appeals of appeals and different motions etc. A big part of that decision is whether or not there is anything to recover.

If Bobby Joe and Billy Bob go out in the shed and put a bunch of Warmoth parts together and find a Fender logo sticker and make a fake Fender, and stick it on eBay as a Fender - that's pretty blatant trademark infringement. In a case like that Fender would be better off playing like they didn't know about it; because if they "know" about it they have to protect their trademark or risk losing it to some other manufacturing company that can grind out a 1,000 units a month.

They could probably care less about Bobby Joe and Billy Bob out in the shed except for protecting their trademark. If you poke the sleeping bear.....!

Big Ron


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