Fender's strategy to stop infringement: What I know

Recently, Fender sued a small Chinese trading company (let's call it Company A) in Europe, alleging that their electric guitars infringed on the body shape of ST guitars.

Company A was clearly unable to fight back and quickly prepared to drop the lawsuit. However, many Chinese guitar manufacturers, including some large factories, contacted the owner of Company A, offering to fund and help them deal with the lawsuit, even providing their entire legal team.

This is intriguing. It clearly shows that this situation is enough to make everyone feel the threat: If Fender can easily win against Company A, then it will unscrupulously sue Companies B, C... and so on. Then, using hundreds of cases where small companies lose, it can prove that Fender owns the design copyrights to ST/TL/PB/JB guitar bodies and headstocks, and then continue to litigate against large companies, ultimately becoming the sole global owner of these copyrights.

So why are so many Chinese guitar manufacturers funding a small guitar trading company A that they don't even know? Because they realized the first domino had fallen.

What will happen next? Fender has done this; will all its brands follow suit? Jackson, Charvel, Gretsch, EVH... If Fender does this and profits, will Gibson follow? Will PRS follow? Will other brands follow? If this spreads, isn't it somewhat similar to national protectionism in global trade today?

If such a situation develops, Fender will only offer two choices: 1. Prohibit other companies from using the design copyrights of the ST/TL/PB/JB guitar bodies and heads. 2. License usage, with each guitar requiring a licensing fee, similar to a tax.

Fender and Gibson created some of the most classic guitar and bass designs, and 100 years later, almost every guitar factory in the world is copying these designs. But this victory has now placed all factories and companies in the industry at a crossroads. As for which way to go, I think it would be more reasonable for the entire industry and consumers to vote on the decision.

As a bonus, here's a small question: Could Leo Fender's G&L company also apply for copyright on these guitar bodies and headstocks?

-Musiclily CEO Jerry Gao