can you trademark a guitar design ?

[pack-rat]

So many copies of guitars out there.
Music Man guitars are a unique looking guitar(s) which what has drawn me to them.

 

[musikarero]

If you can I bet Fender wishes they had....

 

[NorM]

An Interesting Point

Ovation introduced its "tangent" series last year. When they first came out they had a 4+2 type headstock. It just happened to be what I was looking for in an acoustic guitar so I got one. I wondered if there might be some discussion between MM and ovation on this. It wasn't long before Ovation switched to a 2+4 design. I do like the way my acoustic headstock matches my electrics.

Picture from ovations site showing the 4+2 Design. I don't think this design is available anymore

Picture from ovations site of what is currently available

 

[pack-rat]

so nobody really knows if you can ?

 

[PurpleSport]

I'm not a lawyer by any stretch of the means, but I think what you're really asking is if a design can be "patented" vs. "trademarked". Trademarks tend to apply to symbolic things like names, logos, slogans, and images, whereas patents generally focus on actual new designs and inventions and/or improvements to or over existing products.

Assuming the latter, the answer is most definitely "yes". Fender and Gibson went after several Japanese manufacturers in the 70s and 80s after they realized how badly they were getting their lunch eaten. There's even a whole vintage submarket out there for these "lawsuit era" guitars (I owned one, in fact - my first guitar was a dead-on, straight outta Tokyo Ibanez-made Les Paul Custom, which destroyed anything Gibson was making at the time in the early 80s).

That's why most copies you see have something either slightly (or majorly) different like a headstock or body contour - the design difference has to be distinct enough so there's no confusion with the original, otherwise, the copier has to apply for a license from the manufacturer and make some sort of financial contribution or image concession.

If you go to the US Patent and Trade Office website (www.uspto.gov) and start punching in guitaristic terms and even the names of some entrepeneurial artists into their search engine, you'll see some very familar and completely alien designs pop up (I just found one for a guitar with a 4 sided neck!! ) As long at the patent is in force (usually 14 years) and they've got plenty of money for lawyers, any of these folks can sue the pants off anyone they think has encroached on their design.

BTW, the 4/2 headstock is also on Brian Moore guitars too. The moderators are better qualified to confirm this, but I don't think that's something a patent currently covers (if it did, it's expired, and others are freely using it now).

 

[pack-rat]

Thank you for the info purple.

took your advice and look what i found,

{Guess who owns this patent }:

"MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SUPPORT (#4656917) to make it easier to practice the so-called "hammer" technique on the strings of the guitar, playing it more like a piano or hammered dulcimer than a guitar. This technique was perfected and popularized by Stanley Jordan, whose debut album Magic Touch took the country by storm in 1985."

Maybe Peavey will distribute it for him.

 

[musikarero]

Very good info Purple. Not only did I learn something but I enjoyed reading your comments!

 

[PurpleSport]

Thanks for the kind comments, guys. Much appreciated!

(I realized afterwards I forgot to make the distinction between copyrights in all this too, but that's a whole 'nother discussion...)

I've always dug turning people onto unusual stuff, as well as the nifty things behind what's ordinary, mundane, and totally taken for granted in our daily lives (and of course I appreciate it when others point out these types of things to me as well)...there's a whole lotta brainpower behind every little thing in the modern world today.

The PTO site is really fascinating when you get into it. The human mind comes up with some amazing stuff, some of which never sees the light of day outside the lab. It's so funny (and at the same time very sad) to me that the same genius brains responsible for thinking up something can be total failures when it comes to marketing it.

Of course, some ideas like that 4-necked guitar are just plain goofy...but remember: flowers grow out of manure!

BTW, I haven't checked the site to refresh my memory, but it sounds like that was the 1984-era contraption from the guy who made the Axis famous...another example of massive genius in some departments, and disappointing, abysmal failure in others......luckily, there's always room for improvement when it comes to the ol' gray matter upstairs!

 

[pack-rat]

It would be interesting to see what "conceptual" guitars EB MM has come up with over the past only to file it away.
I always get bored with the mundane as well

 

[pack-rat]

*bump*