Fender Guitars lose guitar copyright case
Fender wanted to shut down guitar companies from using their Stratocaster, Telecaster and Precision body style. They fought hard for 5 years, which included over 20,000 pages of evidence demonstrating numerous guitar companies that manufactured and sold guitars which use the body design that it sought to trademark.
But what might have broke the case was TTAB argued "the Stratocaster is so common that it is depicted as a generic electric guitar in a dictionary.”
Personally, I'm glad Fender lost the case. I agree that the body-style is too generic to copyright. That would be like trying to copyright a T.V. set in a box, imagine if only RCA had rights to make a television in a box... our technology wouldn't be as good and it would be unfair competition.
No, I would agree that the headstock shape could be a copyright. And even the angle of the pickups, the configuration of the controls and pickguard could be copyright. There's no reason why a G&L pickguard should bolt on a Fender guitar.
With that said, check out the Fender Custom Shop Harley-Davidson's 105th Anniversary guitar-
