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Thread: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

  1. #176
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    Back in post 94 NoNickle wrote:

    What I really think is behind Gibson's play here is making sure that some troll doesn't sneak one by them and beat them to the PTO on the Fern mark and then ask Gibson to pay a fee to buy their own property back. In Gibon's defense, it could be something as simple as: "Hey, this is ours, let's just put everyone on notice that we own it."
    I suspect that's probably closer to what is driving this than anything else. This isn't going to diminish the competition, nobody is going to stop building mandolins because they can't use the fern inlay on a scrolled headstock.

    Many years after the flowerpot and bell shaped truss rod hullabaloo you can still buy flower pot inlay and bell shaped truss rod covers. Most big builders simply designed around the problem. I'm sure they didn't lose any customers because of it.

    The mandolin business is small potatoes for Gibson. I'm sure that Henry sits back and cringes over the things that weren't done in the past to protect the Gibson intellectual property but the vast majority of the things that Gibson developed that now define the market are well beyond their grasp. Others are building entire lines that use older Gibson brand names. That has to create some concern in their minds and I believe your seeing a reaction to that.

    In the end even with the nashing of teeth this will have as much effect on things as the flowerpot and truss rod cover. Very little.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  3. #177
    Site founder Scott Tichenor's Avatar
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    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    I'm sure that Henry sits back and cringes over the things that weren't done in the past to protect the Gibson intellectual property...
    Such as...

    So, so many choices for outrage on the internet, eh?

  4. #178
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    Well yeah.
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    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  6. #179
    Site founder Scott Tichenor's Avatar
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    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    Let me try that again. Didn't check if their searches expires, which they do. That link pointed to this:

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  8. #180
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    I was thinking more of this one.
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    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  9. #181
    Registered User Petrus's Avatar
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    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    Then there's "Givson" ... no idea about the status of that one.

  10. #182
    Registered User Petrus's Avatar
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    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    Quote Originally Posted by stringduster View Post
    Bernie you're mixing apples and oranges if you want to compare an insignia to a song. Or her name to an insignia. Mine visitations tell me then when it comes to one or the in the other slight variations to alter the shape of an insignia or adding or deleting Letters to make a product name slightly different or by changing the spelling for instant
    It's a complicated field indeed which is why people study the field of copyright/trademark law for years in law school and get highly paid to figure these things out.

    The songwriting world is another thing entirely and it has its own insane complexities. You can copyright a melody but not a chord succession, for instance. In the mid-20th century, as rock and folk was becoming commercialized, it was quite common for performers to "borrow" very heavily without attribution, or to use a melody in the public domain and copyright it as their own, with or without minor variations. (E.g. Aura Lee --> Love Me Tender)

    http://ask.metafilter.com/122822/Wha...lan-steal-from

  11. #183

    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    So, question regarding The Loar trademarking the name: one of the characters in a webcomic of mine is named Loar, but I should be fine, right? It looks like the name in conjunction with the "The" in the field of stringed musical instruments is the full recipe of what constitutes the trademark, rather than just the name "Loar" itself in other contexts.

    --Tom

  12. #184
    Registered User Glennly's Avatar
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    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Coletti View Post
    So, question regarding The Loar trademarking the name: one of the characters in a webcomic of mine is named Loar, but I should be fine, right? It looks like the name in conjunction with the "The" in the field of stringed musical instruments is the full recipe of what constitutes the trademark, rather than just the name "Loar" itself in other contexts.

    --Tom
    Trademarks are protected against "use in commerce" of confusingly similar marks, i.e., use in connection with the sale of goods or services. Use in a literary work, such as a web comic, would not constitute trademark use and, in any event, would be protected under the First Amendment freedom of speech provisions, even if you were specifically referring to Gibson or its products.
    Glennly

    Sinister Stringster

  13. #185

    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    some of you may know that ferrari successfully sued and stopped a small outfit from making replicas of 50's ferraris. in this litigious world, whoever has the most connected lawyers wins the case. it's a great thing that there are other peghead designs than ferns.

  14. #186

    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    It seems that many are wondering how Gibson will legally stop other builders. I'm sure that they don't want to go to court either, but Gibson knows it will cost anyone big bucks in the form of legal fees just to begin the litigation. Not sure how many custom builders will have the funds or time required to fight it out in court.

  15. #187
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    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    that is beautiful NoNickel! im sure it sounds just as nice as it looks...

    Im sure it will be easy enough for luthiers to work around this by just slightly altering a couple minor details in the fern inlay design. maybe Gibson can't keep up with the quality, innovation and expertise of the top small shop/single mandolin luthiers these days and this might be an effort to tip the scale back in their direction a bit? either way its my favorite inlay design.

    Does anyone know if/how this changes the sale of a non-gibson fern inlayed mandolin (i.e. can we still buy a used mando fern on the cafe for instance?)

    does the patent just prevent luthiers from making new mandos w/ this inlay or do patent restrictions apply to the sale of existings?

  16. #188
    Registered User sblock's Avatar
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    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    Quote Originally Posted by MandoJason View Post
    that is beautiful NoNickel! im sure it sounds just as nice as it looks...

    does the patent just prevent luthiers from making new mandos w/ this inlay or do patent restrictions apply to the sale of existings?
    No, no, no. As many others have previously discussed in this thread, this is a TRADEMARK we're talking about, not a patent! The laws governing trademarks and patents are quite different.

  17. #189
    Registered User Blues Healer's Avatar
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    Default Re: U.S. Trademark of Fern Inlay Awarded to Gibson

    "How the mighty have fallen!"

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