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21 October 2015Trademarks

Fender’s Stratocaster lawsuit ‘corporate greed’, says rival

A US-based guitar maker has branded Fender Musical Instruments’s trademark lawsuit an example of “corporate greed” and an attempt to “take out small businesses in the US”.

Rick Mariner, chief executive of Haywire Custom Guitars, told WIPR that his business simply modifies and upgrades existing guitars.

“This is a great example of corporate greed and how far corporation who are outsourcing most of their work to China and Mexico will go to claim every guitar dollar as their own to try and take out small businesses in the US.

“Our basic functions are guitar modifications and neck shaving, setups, re-fretting, pickup installations and general guitar repair for players world-wide,” he said.

Yesterday, October 20, WIPR reported that Fender had sued Haywire alleging infringement of its US registered trademarks.

Fender said the guitars Haywire sold infringed its marks covering the headstock design used on its Stratocaster guitars.

The design is where a guitar is straight on the left hand side, has curves around the top, and contains two bumps on the right hand side.

Furthermore, Fender alleged that the use of the terms ‘Stratocaster’ and ‘Telecaster’ to describe the products were also infringing.

Clarence “Leo” Fender established his guitar business in 1946.

In 1954, Fender began selling the Fender Stratocaster, which was famously used by musicians such as Buddy Holly, John Lennon, George Harrison and Jimi Hendrix.

In August 2012, Fender sent a cease-and-desist letter to Haywire asking it to refrain from selling guitars using the headstock design. Haywire responded stating that it would immediately stop selling the guitars.

According to the court document, filed on October 9 at the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Haywire did not comply with the request.

In a statement responding to the lawsuit Haywire added: “We are not a Gibson, Epiphone, Washburn or Fender dealer nor are we affiliated with any of these companies.”

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Trademarks
20 October 2015   Guitar maker Fender Musical Instruments has alleged that a US rival is selling infringing guitars containing its “distinctive” headstock design.