Gibson tosses around its weight

AirCap

AirCap

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https://www.musicradar.com/news/gibson-issues-threat-to-rival-guitar-builders-you-have-been-warned-were-here-to-protect-our-iconic-legacy
 
"Guitar giant pulls Mark Agnesi video after outcry"

Wish I could have seen the video it before it went bye-bye. Supposedly it was meant to be a warning to "boutique builders" specifically. Could it a be in response to Suhr's new Aura model?

Aura-woodbg-1080x675.jpg


Gibson has a pretty well-established history of rattling their legal saber and getting struck down as a result. Interesting that they would choose this moment to rattle it again - so publicly - just as they seemed to be getting people back on their side. And it would appear the results were the same...at least in the court of public opinion.
 
Gibson's strategy is to bankrupt boutique builders by forcing them to spend all of their capital in legal fees.

They know that they would likely lose the lawsuit, but if they can force builders to hire lawyers, spend money on filing fees, etc when boutique builders already have a very high overhead and a very low profit margin. 
 
Perhaps Suhr but I think Gibson believes all single cutaway carved tops are belong to them. The damage to their reptutation is done, by their own hand.
 
All Your Single-cuts Are Belong To Us


newall.jpeg



Give Us Up The Bomb!!
 
Yep, it's definitely worth  noting that PRS ultimately won the single-cut wars.
Click to expand...

First of all - define "Won the war", and second - provide proof of your statement, not just your opinion.
 
Gibson's strategy is to bankrupt boutique builders by forcing them to spend all of their capital in legal fees.
Click to expand...

It took quite awhile for Henry to turn into a butthole at the helm of Gibson, JC took less than a year.
 
AirCap said:
Yep, it's definitely worth  noting that PRS ultimately won the single-cut wars.
Click to expand...

First of all - define "Won the war", and second - provide proof of your statement, not just your opinion.
Click to expand...


I define "won the war" as "prevailed in the lawsuit Gibson brought seeking to enjoin PRS from manufacturing and marketing its Singlecut body shape on grounds that the Singlecut design does not infringe Gibson's trademark."  My authority is the Federal appellate decision holding precisely that. https://openjurist.org/423/f3d/539

Perhaps Gibson could prevail on another market participant on a trade dress theory for guitars that are more similar to Gibson's Les Paul design than the PRS Singlecut is, but that case has not yet been litigated.  Trade dress claims in the 2006 Gibson v PRS case were dropped with no appellate decision addressing them.  So PRS won the war as to its own product, but perhaps "ultimately" is not the right modifier, since others - including, we surmise, Warmoth - have been subject to threats of litigation and/or cease-and-desist letters from Big G, and some have capitulated.

But as others have noted, Gibson is still free to inflict litigation costs on other market participants. The money they spend doing so, in my opinion of course, I'd rather see put into ensuring the quality of their instruments is competitive and draws buyers; but I am an idealist.  If Gibson's analysis suggests eliminating other makers is the right way to spend their dough - and they are far better informed about such things than I am - then they're free to do so.

That said, it's clear someone above Agnesi's pay grade decided he'd pushed things too far (or that the high-level approval for the video was improvidently granted) because our boy ended up saying out loud in public what they're only supposed to say on company premises.  They yanked the video within a day.

 
Wow. Hadn't seen Mark's vid.... It seems to have the weight of a threat, but as mentioned - it might not stand up in court, despite what Mark is implying. I can see why it was pulled.... I think a lighter touch might be called for in the future when it comes to Gibson marking their territory.
 
Considering just how few guitars Gibson actually produces annually, I guess they're feeling the crunch even more in these days of guitars being less popular then in years past.
 
Considering just how few guitars Gibson actually produces annually
Click to expand...

And how few would that be? Have you got numbers proving Gibson's sales are down? Because the stuff I'm reading in the industry trades like Musical Merchandise Review say Gibson is selling well, and making money.
 
Its no secret that guitar sales, especially non-acoustic guitar sales are way down from a decade ago, and even more so from about 2005.  I read an article about Gibson's core business of guitar making, which elaborated on the dollar amount and the "average price" of a guitar.  A little math and it came to not as many guitars as one might think. 

If run across the new piece (Wall Street Journal maybe) I'll be happy to pass it thru.  But the likes of Fender are also down....
Look at the variations available these days.  Very few color choices.  Real basic stuff.  The guitar market as a whole is not very healthy... retail in musical instruments is down... its a cycle, but we're on the down side.
 
Where the respective marks or products or services are not identical, similarity will generally be assessed by reference to whether there is a likelihood of confusion that consumers will believe the products or services originated from the trademark owner.
 
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