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Thomann takes legal action against Fender

thomann.de

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Re: Thomann takes legal action against Fender

#141

Post by vondur »

lambdaone wrote: post #130
vondur wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"My guess is that if they manage to get a positive ruling in Europe, they'll somehow try to use that as case for US courts." That's exactly what they have done, they sued a Chinese company that was making knock-off Strat copies and selling them in Germany. Fender sued them, the Chinese company was a no show and Fender took that as a win to go after PRS who is selling a John Mayer Strat style guitar.

A win that, as I understand it, did not actually set a precedent and is thus of no actual legal use to them.

I would agree with you. I don’t think it will be enough for them to win in the US.

Re: Thomann takes legal action against Fender

#142

Post by duped »

codedokode wrote: post #82
duped wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The argument has nothing to do with the sound. A strat style guitar is characterized by: - Flat top - Solid body, typically softer/lighter woods - Bolt-on neck (as opposed to set or through-body) - Double cutout (as opposed to single/no cutout, V, or other irregular shaped necks) with a longer cutout on top compared to the bottom - Carved cavity in the top of the body - "Loaded" pickguard (electronics mounted to it,…

Yes but there are exact or almost exact clones like this (it even has Fender logo, but the price is suspicious): [1] [2] [1] https://chinese-guitars.com/products/black-stratocaster-styl... [2] https://e-catalog.com/KRAMER-FOCUS-VT-211S.htm

Kramer has been selling strat clones for 40+ years and a big reason they got popular in the 80s was because they were building guitars Fender wouldn't - they just had the same/similar body shape.

Also that first example is a Fender, afaict. Fender has been making cheap strats and teles in China for years. They used to do it exclusively under the Squire brand name but that changed about a decade ago.

Re: Thomann takes legal action against Fender

#143

Post by jcarrano »

nemomarx wrote: post #65
codedokode wrote: post #51

On a side note, think how conservative music world is, if people are still manufacturing and successfully sell guitar designed in 50s. You can probably take a 50s guitar and connect to a modern amp, or take a modern guitar and connect to a 50s amp and it will work. Compare this, for example, to smartphone chargers or headphones and their compatibility.

why would the connector need to change? nothing has come out that's really better for analog signals

If signals were based on low impedance current loops as opposed to voltage-based like they are today, interference could be much reduced. This would break phantom power, so power to preamps would have to be send through another set of conductors, which would make the design of the electronics easier as well as safer.

Of course, none of this will ever happen.

Re: Thomann takes legal action against Fender

#144

Post by Brian_K_White »

omnimus wrote: post #129
Brian_K_White wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happens all the time.

No it doesn't? We are not in 1998. I always read around here how european server companies are incompetent so there is no european infrastructure so european companies have to host everything on AWS. But this biggest european music store apparently powers their huge store from some server in the back office? Which is it?

We are very much still exactly in 1998.

Re: Thomann takes legal action against Fender

#145

Post by jpfromlondon »

nl wrote: post #120
jorisw wrote: post #6

Those who don’t know what this is about may appreciate Rick Beato’s (a guitar music vlogger) rant about it https://youtube.com/watch?v=OU7RUpkXsV0

I think this makes some excellent points. In particular the cultural impact of the S-shape guitar has been enhanced by people playing non-Fender S-shapes. Think Eddie van Halen on his Frankenstrat which has it's own Wikipedia entry and has been displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That was probably a Charvel body. That goes to the heart of the "work of applied art" argument. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

Fender own Charvel so that's okay.

Re: Thomann takes legal action against Fender

#146

Post by wink »

vitally3643 wrote: post #63
codedokode wrote: post #51

On a side note, think how conservative music world is, if people are still manufacturing and successfully sell guitar designed in 50s. You can probably take a 50s guitar and connect to a modern amp, or take a modern guitar and connect to a 50s amp and it will work. Compare this, for example, to smartphone chargers or headphones and their compatibility.

Smartphone chargers had legitimate reason to change. Higher power, faster data, and we learned the hard way that micro usb and all the proprietary connectors before it were fundamentally physically flawed. Audio hasn't changed at all in the last two centuries. An analog audio signal is fundamental physics and there's nothing to gain or change or improve in any meaningful sense. TRS/phono jacks likewise are just so br…

Mini USB was clunky, but how was it flawed? Unless you count data transfer rates as physical. Never seen one break.
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