Collectible Miniatures, shape designs and Trademarks.

[voncameron]

I've been attempting to research this on my own, but have been unable to come up with satisfactory answers.

I'm exploring producing a line of miniature, 4.5" collectible guitars, and have been wondering about the trademark implications behind reproducing specific famous guitars, ie Jimi Hendrix's Fender Stratocaster.

I HAVE been able to confirm that logos, typefaces and such are definitely trademarked and protected, and would require a license to use in production. However, reproducing a specific guitar design seems to be a bit of a grey area.

www.axeheaven.com is a website for a leading 1:4 scale miniature guitar producer, and taking a look at their catalogue, they seem to be manufacturing and selling direct copies of famous guitars without actually mentioning the guitar's name directly, ie Slash's custom Sunburst guitar (which is clearly a Les Paul).

Is this approach considered safe and legal, in terms of trademark? Since a 4.5" miniature guitar is clearly not playable, and as such is not possibly going to confuse consumers and steal business from the guitar manufacturers themselves, am I safe to produce miniature copies without obtaining a license? Or am I safe as long as I steer clear of using any registered trademarks, such as logos?

Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated!

 

[justalayman]

I'm exploring producing a line of miniature, 4.5" collectible guitars, and have been wondering about the trademark implications behind reproducing specific famous guitars, ie Jimi Hendrix's Fender Stratocaster

.Ya mean like this one?
http://www.google.com/patents?id=x-ZxAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&source=gbs_overview_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

although it would appear Fender did lose a claim in an attempt to claim trademark rights:

http://www.musicradar.com/us/news/guitars/fender-loses-guitar-copyright-case-201886

However, reproducing a specific guitar design seems to be a bit of a grey area.

Designs can be trademarked. They can also have copyright protection for the artwork itself. There can also be design patent rights as well .

In addition, any actual artwork on the guitar may have individual rights and associated protections.

www.axeheaven.com is a website for a leading 1:4 scale miniature guitar producer, and taking a look at their catalogue, they seem to be manufacturing and selling direct copies of famous guitars without actually mentioning the guitar's name directly, ie Slash's custom Sunburst guitar (which is clearly a Les Paul).

and? Just because somebody else does it doesn't mean it's legal. Not saying what they are doing is legal or not. Just saying, there are a lot of illegal products out there and unless you research them, you really do not know if they are illegal or have acquired the appropriate licenses to do what they are. Obviously the name itself would be problematic but that doesn't mean the design itself, without the name, is necessarily safe.

Before copying any actual product, you would want to determine which, if any of those would prevent you from making your product.

You really need to set down with a lawyer and address each individual product you wish to make. On some you may be completely safe. On others, you may have some real problems.

 

[FlyingRon]

You should know that the "Strat" lawsuit is one of these "generic-izing" issues. The argument is the Strat body shape is so used by other people that it's become generic in the industry. This is fairly common for companies (Fender has been through a several major corporate ownership/management changes over the years) that do not aggressively defend those marks. Such examples are Aspirin, Escalator, Cellophane, Linoleum, Mimeograph, Thermos, TouchTone, VideoTape, ...