Fender is escalating the dispute over the Stratocaster’s body shape and has served a cease-and-desist notice on Yamaha. 💥
Interestingly, the case mainly concerns copyright. Previously, a German court had ruled that the distinctive shape of the Stratocaster body constituted a work of applied art eligible for copyright protection. Following this ruling, Fender began sending similar letters to manufacturers and retailers of guitars with a similar silhouette. ✉️
This is particularly interesting because, in 2009, Fender failed to secure trade mark protection in the US for the shapes of its guitars. 🇺🇸 It was deemed that they had become too commonplace in the industry to be associated exclusively with a single manufacturer. 🤝🚫
This case shows that a lack of protection in the form of a trade mark does not necessarily mean a lack of protection under copyright law.
