Gibson...what is going on?

You all are discussing Gibson without authorization. Best sue you all just to be sure.

But yeah, the whole body shape thing is without merit, seeing as stringed instruments have had the contour body shape for centuries. Courts have upheld that having similar body shape alone doesn't constitute infringement. Maybe Gibson will have luck arguing that the Flying V or Explorer body shapes constitute infringement, but these shapes have been around for 60 years. The fact that they haven't gotten all sue-happy over them until now indicates that they'll have little success in the courts here.

Also, taping over a brand name on a guitar headstock in a film or movie does not constitute infringement. It means you haven't paid the filmmakers for product placement, so they've chosen to hide the brand. You can't sue someone because they hold a Gibson guitar in a film or photo.

I'm not a lawyer, so if any of you are and I'm full of sh*t3, please let me know. But this is how I understand it.
 
Damn,
I wear a suit to work and have some friends coming over tomorrow to talk about guitars (cause it’s the weekend) - guess I’m part of the problem - Just couldn’t find a better way to pay the mortgage! :rolleyes:
Thanks
Pauly
 
Thing I don’t get (from the playing public)

There are tons of people out there making Gibson type guitars and some downright knockoffs.
Soooo it should be alright for everyone to make Gibson styled guitars. That seems to be the message.
The designs are 60 years old and so on. OK - - -

Let’s roll the clock back a few years Paul Reed Smith makes that guitar for John Mayer, basically a Strat clone. But in this instance Fender was not the bad guy with there 60 year old designs. Instead it was PRS for copying them.
Total reverse of the Gibson situation.

Personally, I though the first few mins of the Gibson video was fine. Basically, play authentic/best whatever, a company pride thing. But man it it came off like the evil empire real fast.
 
If Gibson once built a car with 4 wheels and a seat they’d probably claim every other automaker is ripping them off to this day....

Maybe Agnesi can get a job as the new White House press secretary? Seems he will go on camera saving anything they tell him lol
 
Mark looks freaking terrified - he's trying to be sort of cool and sort of tough, but he just comes across like a deer in the headlights. Maybe they really did force him to make it. Are they actually going to start suing companies who've been making similar guitars for like 40 years? I can just hear the defense attorney's rebuttals.

Like somebody said on Leon's page, the right way to go about it is simple - make a better quality product than the competitors. If I was ever gonna consider getting a Gibson, there's no chance of that now. And I think I'll start playing my AS200 more often ;-)
 
Play authentic... yeah right.
If only they weren't overpriced, if only they didn't stick to their archaic neck construction, if only they didn't have all those quality issues..
I've worked for an firm that imported Gibsons and saw first hand their authentic quality.
The imorter had a full time luthier fixing all the authentic problems of the Gibsons.
If I ever get me a LP type geetar it will be a Heritage for sure.
And this sums it all up:

I do however see Gibson as a threat to themselves. My advice is: Make great guitars, sort out your quality control and get realistic about the pricing. If it wasn’t for luthiers like Kris Derrig, you’d have gone under 30 years ago.
Derrig built the amazing copy of a ’59 Les Paul that Slash played on the first Guns’n’Roses album Appetite For Destruction. If it wasn’t for that one guitar, I personally think that Gibson might have folded years ago. The ’80s were full of Kramer guitars and Super Strats, nobody wanted a Gibson Les Paul any more. They were seen as poorly made and heavy “dad guitars”. And other companies could make a better Les Paul than Gibson could. You couldn’t give them away.
The company in my opinion needs to hire great guitar builders and luthiers as well as quality control managers that can actually play the guitar. Then possibly lay off some legal advisors and middle management. Just build great guitars. PRS can and do it all day long, so why can’t you?
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