Fender created Strats, Gibson created les paul. Hughes brothers created airplanes, so are you saying airbus, boeings, copied hughes? Its just copying their concept and making it theirs. Strat and les paul is just a outer body created first by the Fender and Gibson, but what lies inside is their own. So lets say i have a TGM strat, it is a strat but its by tgm. I have a Orville Les Paul, its a lespaul but its orville, so i would not call it a copy, i will call it by its brand and then the shape. hope this clear the air. btw this is my POV. i dont wanna get flame.
Do you call it a Strat if it's not a Fender/Squier ?
- Thread starter valentinik_15
- Start date
shit. ahaha. okay my mistake i think i was thinking of hugh laurie when i was typing that. thanks for spotting my mistake man.
dodgethis
New member
The trademarking of the body design and the design's names are two completely different issues.
FMIC lost the patent application for the body designs (this includes Stratocaster, Telecasters, and the Basses) a few years back because they had waited too long to file the patent for the design, after other manufacturers that made FMIC associated shaped bodies made their case to the US Patent Office as they themselves had been using the design to build their own for decades without FMIC making any hoo hah. Please note, however, that FMIC does own the patents to the headstock designs, which is why these other manufacturers do not use the same headstock design when making these similarly-shaped bodies.
FMIC does, however, own the rights for the names of Telecaster and Stratocaster, as well as the associated short forms. If any other manufacturer were to call their designs by the names Stratocaster, you can be sure that FMIC would file a copyright claim against them. This is why no company, not even G&L, use the names of Telecaster and Stratocaster on their guitars. The patents are held by the company, so when Leo sold the company to CBS, the rights did not follow him. This applies to other non-musical related products as well.
Warmoth has a licensing agreement with FMIC that allows to use their various copyrights, like names and headstock designs.
FMIC lost the patent application for the body designs (this includes Stratocaster, Telecasters, and the Basses) a few years back because they had waited too long to file the patent for the design, after other manufacturers that made FMIC associated shaped bodies made their case to the US Patent Office as they themselves had been using the design to build their own for decades without FMIC making any hoo hah. Please note, however, that FMIC does own the patents to the headstock designs, which is why these other manufacturers do not use the same headstock design when making these similarly-shaped bodies.
FMIC does, however, own the rights for the names of Telecaster and Stratocaster, as well as the associated short forms. If any other manufacturer were to call their designs by the names Stratocaster, you can be sure that FMIC would file a copyright claim against them. This is why no company, not even G&L, use the names of Telecaster and Stratocaster on their guitars. The patents are held by the company, so when Leo sold the company to CBS, the rights did not follow him. This applies to other non-musical related products as well.
Warmoth has a licensing agreement with FMIC that allows to use their various copyrights, like names and headstock designs.
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wah. this post helps +1!
