The Lawsuit Guitar | Gibson vs Ibanez

Recently, Gibson has sues Dean guitars, but this is not the first Gibson guitar lawsuit. In this video, I take a look at when Gibson sued Ibanez guitars in 1977 and how this lawsuit changed the guitar world for the better.

The lawsuit was all about the headstock. Ibanez was essentially copying the headstocks of Gibson, Fender, and Rickenbacker. Les Paul, Stratocaster, ES335, Jazz Bass, SG, and more. They were copies. After the lawsuit, which settled out of court, Ibanez began to change their guitar designs to original designs. This is why we have the Ibanez we have today. If it were not for the original Gibson Lawsuit... where would Ibanez and the rest of the guitar world be?

[TomTobin]

I had a 1977 Ibanez Les Paul. Fantastic guitar. I sold it to Paul Gilbert.

[Natimaguitar]

There are a lot of inaccuracies here.
First of all, Ibanez (Hoshino Gakki) was never sued. There was no lawsuit. They also didn't manufacture any guitars, all the manufacturing was handled by Fujigen.
Ibanez was originally just a Sears 'Silvertone' style catalog brand. They acquired the rights to the name Ibanez from a small Spanish musical instrument maker, and started purchasing catalog guitars from the OEM Fujigen in the 1960's with their own name branded on the headstock. As did dozens of other companies. In the Early 1970's they started experimenting with their own designs in order to differentiate themselves from the myriad of other brands that were selling the exact same guitars (literally, same guitar, different brand) and had Fujigen build these guitars for them, not least the Artist and Professional line-ups. By late 1976 they had a pretty full line up of original designs, and were already transitioning to a totally original line-up but were still selling Ibanez branded Les Pauls and SG's etc.
In 1977 they received a cease-and-desist letter regarding the Gibson open-book headstock shape and, headstock shape ONLY. But by this time they had ALREADY designed and manufactured their own original headstock design even for their Gibson copies.
The letter sent by Norlin was only sent because they were exporting their instruments around the world. See: Greco and Burny etc never exported their instruments at the time, and thus no legal action was taken.
To this day many Japanese manufacturers make exact Gibson copies and it has never been stopped in Japan, and Gibson basically lost all claims to any trademarks over there because they took zero action against myriad companies in the 1970's.
1977 was the last year for Ibanez branded copies of American brands and they had fully transitioned to original designs and gained artist signature model deals like Lee Ritenour, George Benson, Steve Miller, Bob Weir and Paul Stanley.

So in short, the was never a lawsuit, Gibson DIDN'T change Ibanez' path, , catalog, or even headstock shape, and Ibanez was already pursuing originality prior to receiving the cease-and-desist.

[TomTobin]

Gibson sues Ibanez. Ibanez makes original models. Ibanez makes guitars that outsells Gibson. #Irony

[bumblbesss]

id just about buy any copy "Japan made" from 60's to 80's that was higher end in that time frame.

[soulagent]

Actually the lawsuit never started, because Ibanez changed their headstock design just in time before Gibson sued them. So it's rather the almost-lawsuit-era,

[swinneydillan]

They may look like Gibson's but the necks are really different! Ibanez has a better neck I think.

[Calbertone]

By 1977 Ibanez was already getting noticed for its own distinctive instruments in terms of looks, sound and above all playability. I own a number of 70s and 80s Ibanez and they are awesome

[terrancepae]

My Ibanez Les Paul Custom 1976 was the best guitar I have ever owned! Bolt on neck and all Cost 190 bucks.Case included. A true black beauty. Been playing for 48 years

[Masterfighterx]

Pff, even Gibson didn't come up with the open book headstock or the LP shape.. They just put patent on someone elses design..

[SinnGread]

I'll take a Ibanez every time over overrated Gibson crap

[MarkTurner-vsuc]

My 75 Ibanez les paul custom is really good. It sits with my Gibsons with NO inferiority complex. I have owned a few Gibsons that were not as good. They were well made. Mine is almost 49 and it's solid, plays flawlessly after all these years. They are also rare.

[TheZooropaBaby]

actually Fuji-gen made guitars for Greco too so you can see that Greco GO series from late 70s are basically Ibanez Artist guitars

[raymondbarreras]

At $350 an Ibanez lawsuit copy from that year was a welcome alternative to about an $800-$900 Gibson Les Paul. In California minimum wage was about $2.10 an hr. In an age when budget guitars were terrible, you youngsters just don’t know! If I were a kid I would love a first act!

[melvynobrien]

My buddy has an Ibanez copy of the Les Paul recording model; it's heavy as hell; but LP always sat down playing. The open-book headstock goes back to the 1800s and is not an "authentic" design; and the Les Paul is a copy of an APP guitar.

[zazrockwell]

I'm fortunate enough to still own my 1st guitar, a 1978 Ibanez md300, the last models with Gibson headstock before the change.

[hogie]

Actually it should be called a “cease and desist letter” guitar. There was never an actual lawsuit. Gibson lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to Hoshino / Fujigen Gakki over the guitar shapes. HG decided that they would definitely lose in court and voluntarily changed the headstock. There was no settlement, no monetary exchange. It’s been greatly exaggerated over the years, especially by people trying to sell their guitars for top dollar.

[Kylegatzke]

What is that song you play in the background?!?!? With the Lap guitar... name it please? So chill

[PoXFreak]

I owned a 1969 Aria Les Paul black beauty, set neck, open book headstock, and just as good if not better than the 1987 "The Heritage" H140CM I bought before it. Sadly I sold it a few years back.
Something about Japanese engineering and craftsmanship from that era made some of the best guitars ever made.
Suggestion: if you find one, buy it.

[pump]

The bigger thing is that these companies, notably Ibanez, weren't just copying these guitars. They were often contracted by Fender and Gibson to make guitars for them. So what Ibanez began doing was basically making guitars and painting "Gibson" on some headstocks and "Ibanez" on others and selling the Ibanez cheaper. It wasn't a copy. It was the same exact guitar, with the same parts, and same craftsmanship at a lower price.

Companies like Gibson couldn't compete and so they sued using the headstock design as reason citing copyright infringement.

The worst part is the lawsuit backfired in that it made Ibanez a household name and also showed that Ibanez had the same standard of quality people wanted.

[fenstrat]

Good video Kennis. It seems most of the comments don't take into account that Ibanez didn't build their own guitars. Just like they had Maxxon build their effect units.I played some of those Ibanez Les Pauls back in the 70's. Yes they were nice. Too bad persons who weren't even around then want to argue over an almost 50 year old subject.