volinbham
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Figured this story fits better in the Pub than the Poli forum - move if needed.
Fender Musical Instrument Company is at the center of a self-made PR fiasco. (WARNING: long post ahead)
The short-version first: Fender claims a court in Germany granted them copyright status for the shape of the famous Stratocaster guitar. Dozens of guitar companies from cheap Chinese knock-offs to high end boutique brands have used the "S-style" for decades. Fender sent a cease and desist to most of these companies that sell into the EU with extreme demands such as $250,000 fine, destroy all inventory and pull inventory back out of the distribution channel and destroy it. There was no prior communication from Fender to these companies.
The guitar-o-sphere has reacted as expected - outrage at Fender. Several of the most prominent Youtubers (millions of followers) have sworn off Fender and the forums are full of boycott calls. Virtually no one is defending Fender on this extreme move even though some acknowledge that protecting IP in general is a reasonable tactic.
The backstory: Earlier in the year Fender sued a Chinese (Ali Baba type) manufacturer for IP violation. The action was in a German court (I guess the Chinese company was selling into the EU). The defendant did not show up to the hearing and Fender won on default. This is an important point because the merits of whether the shape was copyrightable were never technically decided.
In the early 2000s, Fender tried to trademark the shape but lost in court (apparently only the headstock shape was protectable) and it was determined the shape was "generic" and public domain. That was a US ruling but presumably was accpeted that trademark was not available.
This tactic was to claim the design was "artistic expression" thus copyrightable. They argue some BS that Leo Fender designed it to mimic the shapes of a woman and that made it applied artistic expression. This claim has not been tested but Fender is using the default judgement to proceed as if it is copyrighted. It seems their bet is the boutique makers will not have the resources for a long court fight and the cheap knock off companies will alter designs or make something else or just not sell into the EU.
Curiously, it's not clear if Fender went after PRS (Paul Reed Smith), Yamaha and a couple other very large companies that also make S-style guitars. Perhaps they avoided them to avoid them saying let's go to court. Notably, PRS makes a dead ringer for the Strat and it's generally considered to be better.
Where Fender (in my and other's opinion) really screwed up is the severity of their actions - no prior contact, extreme monetary demands and demands to destroy inventory. The last one really pisses off the playing community because many of these builders are making handmade instruments that cost many thousands of dollars - the thought of destroying hand crafted products is pretty galling.
All this has gone down in the last week. The word is just now spreading and it's increasingly negative about Fender. I'm a huge Fender fan but it has me reconsidering buying any new products from them.
Interestingly, the guy from Suhr (they make a high-end S-type guitar) says "if Fender made all the Strats people wanted there wouldn't be a market for mine".
Plenty of articles about it out there, here's a recent one:
www.guitarworld.com
Fender Musical Instrument Company is at the center of a self-made PR fiasco. (WARNING: long post ahead)
The short-version first: Fender claims a court in Germany granted them copyright status for the shape of the famous Stratocaster guitar. Dozens of guitar companies from cheap Chinese knock-offs to high end boutique brands have used the "S-style" for decades. Fender sent a cease and desist to most of these companies that sell into the EU with extreme demands such as $250,000 fine, destroy all inventory and pull inventory back out of the distribution channel and destroy it. There was no prior communication from Fender to these companies.
The guitar-o-sphere has reacted as expected - outrage at Fender. Several of the most prominent Youtubers (millions of followers) have sworn off Fender and the forums are full of boycott calls. Virtually no one is defending Fender on this extreme move even though some acknowledge that protecting IP in general is a reasonable tactic.
The backstory: Earlier in the year Fender sued a Chinese (Ali Baba type) manufacturer for IP violation. The action was in a German court (I guess the Chinese company was selling into the EU). The defendant did not show up to the hearing and Fender won on default. This is an important point because the merits of whether the shape was copyrightable were never technically decided.
In the early 2000s, Fender tried to trademark the shape but lost in court (apparently only the headstock shape was protectable) and it was determined the shape was "generic" and public domain. That was a US ruling but presumably was accpeted that trademark was not available.
This tactic was to claim the design was "artistic expression" thus copyrightable. They argue some BS that Leo Fender designed it to mimic the shapes of a woman and that made it applied artistic expression. This claim has not been tested but Fender is using the default judgement to proceed as if it is copyrighted. It seems their bet is the boutique makers will not have the resources for a long court fight and the cheap knock off companies will alter designs or make something else or just not sell into the EU.
Curiously, it's not clear if Fender went after PRS (Paul Reed Smith), Yamaha and a couple other very large companies that also make S-style guitars. Perhaps they avoided them to avoid them saying let's go to court. Notably, PRS makes a dead ringer for the Strat and it's generally considered to be better.
Where Fender (in my and other's opinion) really screwed up is the severity of their actions - no prior contact, extreme monetary demands and demands to destroy inventory. The last one really pisses off the playing community because many of these builders are making handmade instruments that cost many thousands of dollars - the thought of destroying hand crafted products is pretty galling.
All this has gone down in the last week. The word is just now spreading and it's increasingly negative about Fender. I'm a huge Fender fan but it has me reconsidering buying any new products from them.
Interestingly, the guy from Suhr (they make a high-end S-type guitar) says "if Fender made all the Strats people wanted there wouldn't be a market for mine".
Plenty of articles about it out there, here's a recent one:
“Fender wants a showdown”: What is Fender’s endgame in its cease and desist campaign against S-styles? This video might have the answer
Mike P. of the Eldorado Guitars argues that Fender's ruling in Germany was only the first move
