Gibson Loses Lawsuit To Dean

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[michaelask]

Won’t cost me a dime - Gibson has been surpassed by everyone

[kentpass]

The judge has an SG and hates the neck dive.

[lumberlikwidator]

Martin should give Gibson a taste of their own medicine and go to court to stop the Big G from selling Dreadnoughts.

[thevoxofreason]

Dean's been making those guitars since the late 70's. Gibson needs to move on.

[AyoJesse]

3 mill is just another epiphone greeny restock to them.

[robwoodring]

Gibson customers have been paying for their hyperactive legal department for years, unless you think a guitar with jagged frets and finish blemishes actually was worth nearly $3k all this time.

[reverendtos]

Also of note is that Dean as a company, has a pretty radically different customer base than Gibson. Dean for the last 20 years or so, has catered mostly to the hard rock and metal base. Their endorsement roster is almost all metal guys. Gibson of course, mostly a classic rock base. Dean isn't really significant competition to Gibson. Metal-focused brands like Dean, Esp and Jackson really compete with each other for that space. Gibson's real competition is PRS

[Rich-NH]

When you can no longer innovate or create quality products, just sue everybody. Serious question: Is Gibson even a music company anymore?

[patricklemire]

People have been making telecaster and Stratocaster shaped guitars for a long time and Fender thrived

[tenlittleindians]

Hamer made the best Explorer copy which Cheap Trick played live for decades.

You couldn't get a Gibson version back then since Gibson was only making them in limited runs.

Today those Hamer versions are getting both hard to find and expensive too.

[WalkenDead]

It's weird that they used "counterfeit" because the Dean guitars never used a Gibson headstock nor a Gibson logo. There was definite issues in that first court finding. I do not know anything about high end purses, but I do know how to read a label.

[paulmccourt]

Fender also own Jackson and I feel that Dean was an easy target because of upheaval that they'd had compared to the likes of fender

[seminolefantodd]

I’m sorry, counterfeit? If I buy a guitar that clearly states Dean on the headstock, I know or should know it’s not a Gibson. Geez, where did Gibson get their attorneys from, Liberty University?

[spunkybrewster]

Why doesn't Gibson just hire all the lawyers that play their guitars? Pay them in "lifestyle" swag. Or maybe introduce a exclusive Court Fees Collection.

[RedRavenNine]

So now the real big question is... will Dean go after Gibson for lost revenue from the artists they lost, particularly to Gibson. Just one e-mail or text or document saying that could potentially happen if they sued Dean, then they might have a case.

[sunn_bass]

The company I work for is a large multi-national and will drop tens of millions on a case just because they can, whether as defendant or plaintiff. It's an intimidation tool in many instances and a show that we can out spend the opponent. In many cases the other side buckles under. Gibson will do the same on a smaller scale to smaller companies.

[emil]

A couple of legal details….first off, counterfeiting is really not an issue because Dean is clearly not trying to pass off their guitars as a Gibson. They are clearly badged as Dean, so the consumer is not being deceived as to the manufacturer and provenance. Jackson is not involved because, as is obvious, the design while being derivative, is clearly different. As patent laws go, this is enough to keep them safe from litigation.

[thseed]

Sometimes I have a hard time feeling bad for companies. Think it is mostly in the moments that I realize how little they care about us as the people who buy their products. Like when they've been saying prices went up because costs went up, but still manage to post record profits that would be impossible if their costs really were higher. When their arguments for trademark and copyright infringement or fair use have become so distorted that any reasonable person can see that no one is buying a Dean thinking it's a Gibson or that a YouTuber teaching people how to play a song isn't somehow taking away from how many people buy an album or stream a single. That kind of stuff doesn't sit well with me. Go track down the Chinese companies literally putting Gibson on the headstock of their guitars and blatantly copying the body and headstock shapes.

[BradTheProducer]

Does this explain the "Zero F*cks Given" 2-page ad Dean has in this month's Music Inc magazine?

[cheffy]

A Heritage is the only gibson I will ever buy.