New wave of "lawsuit" guitars?

[Aentons]

Here are some of the interesting dates for these trademarks:

Open book head stock shape (original Gibson/Ibanez lawsuit)
® (U.S. Reg. No. 1020485)
Application Filing Date:    Apr. 25, 1974
Registration Date:    Sep. 16, 1975

Les Paul full body shape: ( took 6 years to get it)
® (U.S. Reg. No. 1782606)
Application Filing Date:   Jul. 31, 1987
Registration Date:   Jul. 20, 1993

Flying V headstock shape:
® (U.S. Reg. No. 3976202)
Application Filing Date:   Jan. 13, 2011
Registration Date:   Jun. 07, 2011

Flying V body shape
® (U.S. Reg. No. 2051790)
Application Filing Date:   Sep. 06, 1994
Registration Date:   Apr. 15, 1997

Explorer headstock shape:
® (U.S. Reg. No. 2696053)
Application Filing Date:   Apr. 16, 1999
Registration Date:   Mar. 11, 2003

Explorer body shape
® (U.S. Reg. No. 2053805)
Application Filing Date:   Sep. 06, 1994
Registration Date:   Apr. 22, 1997

SG body shape
® (U.S. Reg. No. 2215791)
Application Filing Date:   Apr. 10, 1997
Registration Date:   Jan. 05, 1999

Moderne body shape:
® (U.S. Reg. No. 3607851)
Application Filing Date:   Feb. 07, 2008
Registration Date:   Apr. 14, 2009

[Aentons]

Here is another take:

4/2016 - Notice of Suit Incoming from Gibson to Oktober Guitars
https://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn74570029&docId=NOS20170417161423#docIndex=0&page=1
This is for basically the same stuff as Dean (Flying V name, V body shape, ES body shape, Explorer body shape)

"In late 2016, Oktober Guitars sold the company to a larger, more well-known guitar manufacturer, and officially closed Oktober Guitars in 2017"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktober_Guitars


Just sayin'... I don't know... Maybe Gibson doing this same thing to Dean is an extremely capitalistic aggressive shitty acquisition/expansion strategy.

[Tremster]

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/gibson-shifts-from-confrontation-to-collaboration-with-gibson-authorized-partnership-program

[thesmokingman]

well you gotta figure that Heritage is one of those four. If it were me and my company, in the immediate future I wouldn't want to "partner" and wait and see how it all plays out.  If these existing suits didn't play out in Dean's favor, I would look to either wind down or shift focus to new models that are unencumbered by these issues. The very last thing I would do is play ball and pay them vig.

[EBK]

Maybe Dean just needs to use some different inlays to clear up any misunderstanding:

[Tremster]

Necro bump.

Gibson is now suing Mojo Hand FX over the name "Mister O" phaser, which could be mistaken for "Maestro".
https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-serves-mojo-hand-fx-with-cease-and-desist-over-mister-o-pedal-name/

[danfrank]

This all reeks of desperation on Gibson's part. They know they're circling the drain, they have been for a while now.
Maybe this is Gibson's new business model, sue everyone and everything and hope they make enough that way to stay in business.
Lol

[jimilee]

Yeah, that name thing is a desperate read.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Muadzin]

Necro bump.

Gibson is now suing Mojo Hand FX over the name "Mister O" phaser, which could be mistaken for "Maestro".
https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-serves-mojo-hand-fx-with-cease-and-desist-over-mister-o-pedal-name/

Still up to their usual Gibson tricks I see. I hope that company dies and does so very soon.

[pickdropper]

Necro bump.

Gibson is now suing Mojo Hand FX over the name "Mister O" phaser, which could be mistaken for "Maestro".
https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-serves-mojo-hand-fx-with-cease-and-desist-over-mister-o-pedal-name/

Still up to their usual Gibson tricks I see. I hope that company dies and does so very soon.

In all likelihood, Gibson is probably in a better financial position than they have been in a long time.  They shed a lot of the dead weight companies that Henry J. bought and got back to their core profitable business: building guitars.  That, coupled with 2020 being a record year for guitar sales, makes it pretty unlikely that they will fold anytime soon, but we will see.

[jimilee]

Necro bump.

Gibson is now suing Mojo Hand FX over the name "Mister O" phaser, which could be mistaken for "Maestro".
https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-serves-mojo-hand-fx-with-cease-and-desist-over-mister-o-pedal-name/

Still up to their usual Gibson tricks I see. I hope that company dies and does so very soon.

In all likelihood, Gibson is probably in a better financial position than they have been in a long time.  They shed a lot of the dead weight companies that Henry J. bought and got back to their core profitable business: building guitars.  That, coupled with 2020 being a record year for guitar sales, makes it pretty unlikely that they will fold anytime soon, but we will see.

I concur. They're signing artists again, plus they're talking about a Gibson label? I don't know. I feel like their quality has improved and they're heading in the right direction. This lawsuit is a bit of a stretch though, I feel like.

[pickdropper]

Necro bump.

Gibson is now suing Mojo Hand FX over the name "Mister O" phaser, which could be mistaken for "Maestro".
https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-serves-mojo-hand-fx-with-cease-and-desist-over-mister-o-pedal-name/

Still up to their usual Gibson tricks I see. I hope that company dies and does so very soon.

In all likelihood, Gibson is probably in a better financial position than they have been in a long time.  They shed a lot of the dead weight companies that Henry J. bought and got back to their core profitable business: building guitars.  That, coupled with 2020 being a record year for guitar sales, makes it pretty unlikely that they will fold anytime soon, but we will see.

I concur. They're signing artists again, plus they're talking about a Gibson label? I don't know. I feel like their quality has improved and they're heading in the right direction. This lawsuit is a bit of a stretch though, I feel like.

The Murphy's Lab finish issues are currently giving them a bit of a black eye on the internet (as was their somewhat stupid PR comment on it), but they appear to be addressing the issues with owners, which is what's most important.

[Aentons]

Necro bump.

Gibson is now suing Mojo Hand FX over the name "Mister O" phaser, which could be mistaken for "Maestro".
https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-serves-mojo-hand-fx-with-cease-and-desist-over-mister-o-pedal-name/

Still up to their usual Gibson tricks I see. I hope that company dies and does so very soon.

In all likelihood, Gibson is probably in a better financial position than they have been in a long time.  They shed a lot of the dead weight companies that Henry J. bought and got back to their core profitable business: building guitars.  That, coupled with 2020 being a record year for guitar sales, makes it pretty unlikely that they will fold anytime soon, but we will see.

I concur. They're signing artists again, plus they're talking about a Gibson label? I don't know. I feel like their quality has improved and they're heading in the right direction. This lawsuit is a bit of a stretch though, I feel like.

On the second page of the cease and decist letter, it says that the Mojo marketing material was misleading or whatever... I agree thet based on the logo alone, it's stretching, but if mojo marketing was off then it makes more sense.

Edit: apparently the New Kids on the Block are to blame

[matmosphere]

Honestly, I think from the early seventies through now Gibson's story has been big ups and downs. Don't know how any of this seems any different. They clearly need some fresh blood running the place. This weird adversarial thing they are doing isn't winning them many fans.

Plus, if they want to bitch about somebody making a pedal with a logo that is similar to their old logo and a play on words and is digitally programmed to maybe sound something like a pedal they made decades ago and say it's loosing them money or hurting their brand, then why don't they just make a reissue of that pedal and see if they can make a few bucks off of it themselves. There obviously a market looking for it.

[pickdropper]

Honestly, I think from the early seventies through now Gibson's story has been big ups and downs. Don't know how any of this seems any different. They clearly need some fresh blood running the place. This weird adversarial thing they are doing isn't winning them many fans.

Plus, if they want to bitch about somebody making a pedal with a logo that is similar to their old logo and a play on words and is digitally programmed to maybe sound something like a pedal they made decades ago and say it's loosing them money or hurting their brand, then why don't they just make a reissue of that pedal and see if they can make a few bucks off of it themselves. There obviously a market looking for it.

Yeah, I agree.  Significant ups and downs.  They were nearly bankrupt when Henry J bought Gibson from Norlin in 1986.  He built it up and then ran it into the ground again before it was sold to its current owners.  Just massive peaks and valleys.

Right now they seem to have improved quality a bit and are listening more to what their audience seems to want, but man their PR and marketing has a lot of room for improvement.

The C&D thing is sort of dicey.  In this case, they didn't make any weird video announcing the cease and desist letter (like they did with Dean guitars at the start of this thread).  They just quietly had their lawyers send a letter, which does seem to be somewhat legit in this case.  I agree that it would make sense for them to plug that hole in the market, but copyright law only forces them to defend their IP, not actually do anything with it.