Comment by cassianoleal
5 hours ago
> According to Fender, the outcome of the case – launched against a Chinese manufacturer – gave the firm the legal right to “protect its designs in global commerce”.
So they used China scare as a trojan horse to sue other US manufacturers? There's some delicious irony in that.
suing US manufacturers who sell in the EU, because they can't sue someone for selling a strat shaped guitar in the US, the shape was declared public domain in the US twenty years ago
Plus the Chinese firm didn't even show up to defend themselves, so it was a default judgement.
I suspect because the Chinese firm in question was a fabrication of FMIC for exactly this purpose.
There certainly could be collusion. But it could just as easily be a Chinese music instrument storefront has little reason to show up in court. Worst case, they setup a new name when shipments start getting confiscated. Losing a few cheap guitars at customs and restarting SEO is probably cheaper than foreign lawyers. The storefront in question [1] (assuming there's not a name collision) lists a lot of stuff, more effort than I would put in on a sockpuppet store; it does have a nice name, but it's only been on Aliexpress for two years, so not a lot of brand legacy to throw away if need be.
[1] https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1103599226
There are a lot of real Chinese firms (factories) that make unapproved copies including body shape, headstock shape, logo, and brand name.
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