User:Louis/Fender Stratocaster Copyright Enforcement: Difference between revisions
added guitar anatomy illustration, c&d letter quotation, and ceo contradiction documentation |
added full letter text from guitar.com redacted copy, removed duplicate image, expanded ceo contradiction |
||
| Line 27: | Line 27: | ||
== Cease and Desist Campaign == | == Cease and Desist Campaign == | ||
Within months of the ruling Fender moved from a Chinese AliExpress seller to established Western builders. Bird & Bird sent letters informing makers of the German ruling and demanding they cease producing guitars that use the Strat body shape, recall and destroy existing unsold inventory, provide sales data on how many of these instruments had been sold, and provide financial restitution for damages and legal fees.<ref name="guitarcom-industry | Within months of the ruling Fender moved from a Chinese AliExpress seller to established Western builders. Bird & Bird sent letters informing makers of the German ruling and demanding they cease producing guitars that use the Strat body shape, recall and destroy existing unsold inventory, provide sales data on how many of these instruments had been sold, and provide financial restitution for damages and legal fees.<ref name="guitarcom-industry" /> | ||
[[File:Fender-Stratocaster-CD-letter-inventory-destruction-demand.png|thumb|center|upright=2.2|Guitar.com reporting on the Bird and Bird cease-and-desist letters sent to boutique builders, documenting demands to recall and destroy existing inventory, provide sales data, and pay financial restitution.<ref name="guitarcom-industry"/>]] | [[File:Fender-Stratocaster-CD-letter-inventory-destruction-demand.png|thumb|center|upright=2.2|Guitar.com reporting on the Bird and Bird cease-and-desist letters sent to boutique builders, documenting demands to recall and destroy existing inventory, provide sales data, and pay financial restitution.<ref name="guitarcom-industry"/>]] | ||
Guitar.com, which reviewed a redacted copy of the letter, reported that it stated: | |||
<blockquote>''You are therefore infringing our client's copyright in the Stratocaster body shape. As a consequence, our client has claims against you to cease and desist from further marketing such guitars, disclosure of information about your sales and marketing, damages, destruction of the infringing products, recall of the infringing products, and reimbursement of our legal fees.''</blockquote><ref name="guitarcom-industry"/> | |||
The letter named a compliance deadline: | |||
<blockquote>''Our client therefore insists that you immediately stop manufacturing, marketing, selling and producing the infringing products and confirm this to us by 25 May 2026.''</blockquote><ref name="guitarcom-industry"/> | |||
And warned: | |||
<blockquote>''However, should you fail to respond accordingly within the deadline, we will advise our client to commence the required further judicial steps against you without further hesitation.''</blockquote><ref name="guitarcom-industry"/> | |||
[[File:Fender-Stratocaster-BirdBird-letter-verbatim-paragraphs.png|thumb|center|upright=2.2|Guitar.com reporting on verbatim paragraphs from the Bird and Bird cease-and-desist letter, showing the enumerated remedies including ''destruction of the infringing products'' and the threat of ''further judicial steps against you without further hesitation.''<ref name="guitarcom-industry"/>]] | |||
The initial compliance deadline was May 25, 2026, later extended to June 8, 2026 for builders willing to enter talks.<ref name="guitarcom-lsl" /> | The initial compliance deadline was May 25, 2026, later extended to June 8, 2026 for builders willing to enter talks.<ref name="guitarcom-lsl" /> | ||
=== LSL Instruments === | === LSL Instruments === | ||
| Line 71: | Line 79: | ||
In June 2026, Fender CEO Edward Bud Cole addressed the backlash at a dealer event, footage of which leaked to Guitar World. Cole opened by disputing the litigation framing: | In June 2026, Fender CEO Edward Bud Cole addressed the backlash at a dealer event, footage of which leaked to Guitar World. Cole opened by disputing the litigation framing: | ||
<blockquote>''First and foremost, Fender is not suing anybody. What we've done is reach out thoughtfully and respectfully to a handful of companies whose guitars come extremely close to replicating the iconic Fender Stratocaster design.''</blockquote><ref name=" | <blockquote>''First and foremost, Fender is not suing anybody.''</blockquote><ref name="gw-ceo" /> | ||
Referring to the cease-and-desist letters, he added: | |||
<blockquote>''What we've done is reach out thoughtfully and respectfully to a handful of companies whose guitars come extremely close to replicating the iconic Fender Stratocaster design.''</blockquote><ref name="gw-ceo" /> | |||
Cole then retreated from the destruction demand his own firm's letters had made: | Cole then retreated from the destruction demand his own firm's letters had made: | ||
| Line 78: | Line 88: | ||
[[File:Fender-Stratocaster-CEO-Bud-Cole-no-inventory-destruction.png|thumb|center|upright=2.2|Fender CEO Edward Bud Cole, quoted by Guitar World, retracting the inventory destruction demand that Bird and Bird's letters had made on Fender's behalf.<ref name="gw-ceo" />]] | [[File:Fender-Stratocaster-CEO-Bud-Cole-no-inventory-destruction.png|thumb|center|upright=2.2|Fender CEO Edward Bud Cole, quoted by Guitar World, retracting the inventory destruction demand that Bird and Bird's letters had made on Fender's behalf.<ref name="gw-ceo" />]] | ||
The | At the dealer event Cole said Fender had reached out ''thoughtfully and respectfully'' to the companies it contacted.<ref name="gw-ceo" /> The redacted letter Guitar.com reviewed told each recipient that, should it fail to comply by the deadline, Bird & Bird would ''advise our client to commence the required further judicial steps against you without further hesitation.''<ref name="guitarcom-industry" /> | ||
Cole also said the inventory destruction language was ''unfortunate'' and that Fender was ''not asking anyone to destroy inventory.''<ref name="gw-ceo" /> The same letter named ''destruction of the infringing products'' as one of Fender's enumerated claims against each builder.<ref name="guitarcom-industry" /> | |||
He described the preferred resolution as ''practical, reasonable solutions,'' including design modifications and ''generous transition periods to sell through existing inventory.''<ref name="gw-ceo" /> He also narrowed the geographic scope, stating the conversations were centered on products made, marketed, or sold in the European Union, not in the United States.<ref name="gw-ceo" /> That EU-only framing sits awkwardly next to the targeting of the PRS Silver Sky, a modified American design, and against Cole's own rejection of the ''S-style'' shorthand as ''an attempt to diminish and whitewash'' Fender's contribution.<ref name="guitarcom-ceo" /> | He described the preferred resolution as ''practical, reasonable solutions,'' including design modifications and ''generous transition periods to sell through existing inventory.''<ref name="gw-ceo" /> He also narrowed the geographic scope, stating the conversations were centered on products made, marketed, or sold in the European Union, not in the United States.<ref name="gw-ceo" /> That EU-only framing sits awkwardly next to the targeting of the PRS Silver Sky, a modified American design, and against Cole's own rejection of the ''S-style'' shorthand as ''an attempt to diminish and whitewash'' Fender's contribution.<ref name="guitarcom-ceo" /> | ||
| Line 111: | Line 123: | ||
<ref name="eu-infosoc">{{Cite web |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32001L0029 |title=Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society |publisher=EUR-Lex |date=2001-05-22 |access-date=2026-06-16}}</ref> | <ref name="eu-infosoc">{{Cite web |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32001L0029 |title=Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society |publisher=EUR-Lex |date=2001-05-22 |access-date=2026-06-16}}</ref> | ||
<ref name="bgh-recall">''Bundesgerichtshof'' [BGH], I ZR 208/15 (May 4, 2017) (Ger.).</ref> | <ref name="bgh-recall">''Bundesgerichtshof'' [BGH], I ZR 208/15 (May 4, 2017) (Ger.).</ref> | ||
<ref name="fretjam-anatomy">{{Cite web |url=https://www.fretjam.com/parts-of-the-guitar.html |title=Parts of the Guitar |publisher=Fretjam |access-date=2026-06-16}}</ref> | <ref name="fretjam-anatomy">{{Cite web |url=https://www.fretjam.com/parts-of-the-guitar.html |title=Parts of the Guitar |publisher=Fretjam |access-date=2026-06-16}}</ref></references> | ||
</references> | |||
[[Category:Fender]] | [[Category:Fender]] | ||
[[Category:Copyright]] | [[Category:Copyright]] | ||
[[Category:Intellectual Property]] | [[Category:Intellectual Property]] | ||