Fender, which makes the “Stratocaster” electrical guitar made well-known by musicians comparable to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, has filed a lawsuit in a German court docket towards the instrument retailer Thomann, alleging copyright infringement.
The submitting in a regional German court docket in Düsseldorf this week comes after Fender received copyright safety in Europe for the Strat in March, because the guitar mannequin is named by musicians.
Fender argues that the Harley Benton-brand guitars developed and offered by Thomann, certainly one of its largest international retail companions, copy the traditional Strat form.
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In Could, Fender despatched cease-and-desist letters to a variety of firms, together with Yamaha, the world’s largest instrument maker, asking them to cease manufacturing and promoting Strat lookalikes headed for Europe.
Thomann didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Strat-shaped devices have been offered by producers giant and small at numerous worth factors for many years, with the form changing into so ubiquitous that it serves because the generic emoji image for “guitar” in most main working methods.
Fender’s transfer to implement a copyright round it, together with towards boutique guitar builders, ignited an on-line backlash amongst some guitar influencers.
Thomann in June filed a authorized motion known as a “declaration of non-infringement” towards Fender, arguing that Fender didn’t have a legitimate copyright to the Strat physique form, partly as a result of the Fender ruling in March got here in the type of a default judgment towards a smaller on-line vendor that didn’t present up in Düsseldorf court docket to problem Fender’s claims.
In its submitting this week, Fender mentioned it sells about 500,000 Strats per 12 months, with 34,000 of these offered in Germany. Fender cited Thomann’s personal estimates that the retailer sells 10,000 Fender Strats per 12 months.
“Thomann isn’t a small impartial guitar builder. It’s certainly one of the world’s largest musical instrument retailers, certainly one of Fender’s largest retail companions, and the proprietor of Harley Benton, certainly one of Europe’s largest guitar manufacturers,” Fender mentioned in an announcement.
