THE BIG STORY: Is Fender about to sue the entire guitar industry?
It turns out Fender’s been trying to get exclusive IP rights to the double cutaway, S-shaped look of the Stratocaster for more than two decades, first with a failed effort to trademark the design in the U.S., and now with a more successful bid for copyright protection in Europe.
But the rest of the industry isn’t taking the threats lying down: “Our client has every right to continue to sell its guitars with Strat-style guitar bodies, whenever and wherever it so chooses,” one opposing lawyer wrote. “Efforts by your client to bully competitors based on misrepresentations and overstatements are anti-competitive.”
For the whole story, go read Rachel Scharf’s excellent story on the brewing Strat strife. And stay tuned at Billboard to find out if Fender actually files any lawsuits.
Billboard
