$250 Guitar vs. $1000 vs. $3000+

[fcs101]

Depending on when you're talking about, Ibanez (and some other Japanese companies) actually made very, very good clones of Les Pauls, Strats, Teles and other classics. So much so that they got sued and had to cease and desist. This is known as the "lawsuit era"... Mid-late '70s.

You're probably more talking about what I call the "golden age" of Ibanez from the mid '80s to mid '90s, though.

Gibson has been at it again sending a 'Cease and Desist' letter to Kiesel over some of their models. Kiesel isn't backing down though. I haven't heard if it's been elevated to a law suit yet; sounded like Gibson was just flexing.

 

[unix-guy]

Gibson has been at it again sending a 'Cease and Desist' letter to Kiesel over some of their models. Kiesel isn't backing down though. I haven't heard if it's been elevated to a law suit yet; sounded like Gibson was just flexing.

They've been hitting a lot of companies in the last couple years.

Most of them are mostly "inspired by" from what I've seen... The Japanese lawsuit era stuff was mostly outright copies.

 

[fcs101]

They've been hitting a lot of companies in the last couple years.

Most of them are mostly "inspired by" from what I've seen... The Japanese lawsuit era stuff was mostly outright copies.

Yeah, what many people don't realize is that the Asian mentality regarding copyright and patents differs greatly from ours (i.e., it doesn't apply). I think that's probably why I was able pick up such an awesome clone years ago when I was stationed overseas (but that was shear dumb luck).

 

[Joe Bfstplk]

They've been hitting a lot of companies in the last couple years.

Most of them are mostly "inspired by" from what I've seen... The Japanese lawsuit era stuff was mostly outright copies.

My HLK Lady Luck (sorta-Explorer) was $99 on a blowout sale a couple years ago. The revised version added an extra angle to the end of the body to get around looking too much like an Explorer. Great guitar, BTW, once you put good pickups in it. I have Lawrence/Wilde L90-2H and L90-4H in it now....

 

[sprint]

Here's a video that fits right in this thread. Jack Pearsons guitar collection...Loves Fender Squires, for on example.

Thanks for posting this - timely as I got a Squier CV Tele this week (see above) and really enjoying it after some setup work on it here at home, but was thinking I'd maybe wasted the $ in the long run somehow - it sounds / feels so good to me though - guess if its good enough for Jack, it can be good enough for me. ++ surprise, surprise he pulls out the SG - my #1! Love it when top level players rationalize my guitar purchase decisions for me.

 

[la szum]

Gibson has been at it again sending a 'Cease and Desist' letter to Kiesel over some of their models. Kiesel isn't backing down though. I haven't heard if it's been elevated to a law suit yet; sounded like Gibson was just flexing.

So they learned a lot from the Henry era and have upped their game and are now
more widely admired???

Or not.

 

[Greg Ferguson]

Gibson has been at it again sending a 'Cease and Desist' letter to Kiesel over some of their models. Kiesel isn't backing down though. I haven't heard if it's been elevated to a law suit yet; sounded like Gibson was just flexing.

If I remember right, Gibson had their butts handed to them years ago when they sued Ibanez over infringement because they hadn't protected their rights consistently. About the only thing Gibson was able to retain was the headstock shape. https://www.adkguitar.com/blogs/news/what-do-we-mean-when-we-say-lawsuit-guitar

Now, Gibson's new owners are trying to get all the court losses repealed which is unlikely to happen; They agreed to the terms before and a new owner inherited those. They need to be more innovative if they want to have some weight to throw around.

https://guitar.com/news/gibson-sued-by-heritage/

https://www.roi-nj.com/2019/09/06/l...itar-giant-gibson-over-body-shape-trademarks/

Famously, court documents show that Gibson at one point stated that “only an idiot” would mistake a PRS Single Cut for a Les Paul. Perhaps not the best tactic for winning an intellectual property lawsuit.

https://reverb.com/news/the-true-stories-behind-6-famous-gear-lawsuits

Gibson has a long history of wanting to be the 800 lb. gorilla but they weren't diligent and the law expects that they would be if body style was that important to them.

 

[fcs101]

If I remember right, Gibson had their butts handed to them years ago when they sued Ibanez over infringement because they hadn't protected their rights consistently. About the only thing Gibson was able to retain was the headstock shape. https://www.adkguitar.com/blogs/news/what-do-we-mean-when-we-say-lawsuit-guitar

Now, Gibson's new owners are trying to get all the court losses repealed which is unlikely to happen; They agreed to the terms before and a new owner inherited those. They need to be more innovative if they want to have some weight to throw around.

https://guitar.com/news/gibson-sued-by-heritage/

https://www.roi-nj.com/2019/09/06/l...itar-giant-gibson-over-body-shape-trademarks/


https://reverb.com/news/the-true-stories-behind-6-famous-gear-lawsuits

Gibson has a long history of wanting to be the 800 lb. gorilla but they weren't diligent and the law expects that they would be if body style was that important to them.

Jeff Kiesel is on record (multiple interviews and also in instagram) as saying they will not back down. It's been over a year since Kiesel received the letter, so I'm guessing Gibson is using scare tactics.

 

[sprint]

From day 1 my Gibson had scratchy pots and tuning issues (deoxit and string butler to the rescue), and of course the annoying SG neck dive.

Having said that, best guitar I ever owned/played - I'll never give it up - some kinda special sauce in there.

 

[Greg Ferguson]

...I'm guessing Gibson is using scare tactics.

Yes. They're hoping the threat of lawsuits will make companies jump to using the licensing offers that Gibson is waving in the air. But that is a partial admission that Gibson was wronged by the companies and ensures additional income for Gibson for designs that have been in use for years, and for them to make even a partial admission only encourages Gibson to continue which is really bad for the industry.

IF Gibson and Fender had immediately trademarked their guitar shapes, and consistently defended them in court against copying, they'd have something to stand on, but they didn't.

Way back when, I did professional photography, and the first thing my Intellectual Property lawyer said was I had to immediately respond to all infringements otherwise I'd have no legal standing. Gibson and Fender didn't do that, to their loss.