Dean lost against Gibson

Really glad I got my Dean V when I did.

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LiveeviL2000 said:
Maybe companies that offer kit guitars that mimic their designs.
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They’ve already been there. There seems to be an ebb and flow with compliance though. For example: Precision’s kits altered their shapes a bit to comply with a dust up with Gibson IIRC. They used to offer an excellent SG line up of kits…now it hides in the “made to order” section of their site, and the shape looks better again…ssshhhhhhhhhh……..compared to just a couple of years ago, when they went to the “Gumby meets SG” shape that some other manufacturers use to avoid cease and desist letters.
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I’m not gonna speculate further…
 
Here's my two cents:

If a company outright copies the design to a complete T, then yes, sue for infringement. Something like the Chibsons out of China which are blatant copies, down to the logos and stickers are shameless ripoffs and deserve to be shut down. Even the greatly made Ibanez, Greco and Burny guitars out of Japan from the 70s to early 80s did pretty much rip off the designs only changing the logos ( though I admit they were phenomenally made).

But putting a spin on a design isn't a copyright infringement to me. Dean was using their own headstocks and different control layouts ( yes, Gibson at one point DID use the reverse V headstock on some but it was never the main production style), so it was like any of the million inspired designs of the Fender Stratocaster, which is the most copied design of all-time.

If this is the case? Then I guess Gibson has no choice but to go attack ESP for literally 3/4 of their production line and Fender would be wrapped up in courts until Doomsday over the millions of Strat and Tele ripoffs.

I think this is Gibson just picking low hanging fruit to address financial issues rather than cleaning up their own house and focusing on making better guitars at a reasonable price. And i say this is a devout Gibson fan
 
Glad I've got mine, too. Wish it was a USA made guitar, but then it would have cost way too much... but at least there would be ZERO quality-control issues, unlike a certain other US manufacturer...

I don't hate Gibson like a lot of people seem to, but this whole thing is pretty stupid.
Besides, nobody is going to mistake that V shaped headstock for a Gibson. The only thing keeping me from buying the Gibson V that I really want, is the astronomical price and the fact that even if I did shell out, there's a damn good chance that it will still have all kinds of issues, and I'd have been better off with an Epiphone instead.

Oh, and actually, they are slightly different, meaning not quite identical bodies. The Deans are actually a tiny bit smaller. At least this was true of the two specimens I compared.

Looks like I'll be keeping my Dean around for a while.

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Inspector #20 said:
It was a jury's decision and it was, in my opinion, appropriate. The shapes were copied to an almost mathematical extent.

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How and why did this happen in Texas, I wonder? I'm sure there was almost no chance of Gibbo's attorneys doing any so-called "shopping" around for just the jury they may have been looking for or anything...right?

I mean, if I were an attorney on that legal team, I would definitely think about that as a tactic to use towards succeeding in something like a lawsuit such as this one...

And if I were on Dean's legal team, I would have expected exactly that too, and at least try to counter lol
 
mcblink said:
Glad I've got mine, too. Wish it was a USA made guitar, but then it would have cost way too much... but at least there would be ZERO quality-control issues, unlike a certain other US manufacturer...

I don't hate Gibson like a lot of people seem to, but this whole thing is pretty stupid.
Besides, nobody is going to mistake that V shaped headstock for a Gibson. The only thing keeping me from buying the Gibson V that I really want, is the astronomical price and the fact that even if I did shell out, there's a damn good chance that it will still have all kinds of issues, and I'd have been better off with an Epiphone instead.

Oh, and actually, they are slightly different, meaning not quite identical bodies. The Deans are actually a tiny bit smaller. At least this was true of the two specimens I compared.

Looks like I'll be keeping my Dean around for a while.

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How and why did this happen in Texas, I wonder? I'm sure there was almost no chance of Gibbo's attorneys doing any so-called "shopping" around for just the jury they may have been looking for or anything...right?

I mean, if I were an attorney on that legal team, I would definitely think about that as a tactic to use towards succeeding in something like a lawsuit such as this one...

And if I were on Dean's legal team, I would have expected exactly that too, and at least try to counter lol
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Blink. I have the exact same V. I’ve always wanted a V but two things always stopped me.
1) price. Gibson would charge an arm and a leg for a decent axe. And I was brainwashed into thinking Gibson Vs or it’s trash.
2) lack of options I liked. Even if I had the money to afford a Gibson V, nothing thrilled me.

Thanks to joining this forum and speaking to most of you. It opened my eyes to other manufacturers.
And found great quality instruments for a fraction.
Does the Dean V look like a Gibson. Yes sort of.
But at no point do you ask yourself “is that a Gibson”
You KNOW it’s a Dean.
 
LiveeviL2000 said:
Does the Dean V look like a Gibson. Yes sort of.
But at no point do you ask yourself “is that a Gibson”
You KNOW it’s a Dean.
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If a pic of some of the Dean's doesn't show the winged Dean headstock, then some of the confusion could be validated. But definitely Gibson should have nipped this in the bud decades ago. Maybe Gibson was to unorganized and/or did not have enough enthusiasm or financial means to crush Dean back then. IMO however, it seems that Dean was blatantly poking at the bear too many times in last few years. I do hope that Dean somehow survives this latest challenge though.
 
I dont see the end of Dean from this, however. An easy solution is to use the more extreme body sculpting on some of their guitars like they did before. The only three in their current line that could be interpreted as Gibson clones ( and thats a generous stretch of a statement) are the V, the Z and the Thoroughbred. Any of the other Vs, Explorer types or Les Paul styles ( Vengence, Zero and Cadillac respectively) are so radical from Gibson, they could easily argue that in their favor and in turn; Jackson, ESP and Schecter would have some explaining to do for having very similar, radical designs.

The Splittail guitar however, WOULD have had a valid argument in Gibson's favor since it was directly inspired by the Zakk Wylde designed ZV. However, Zakk took that design with him to Wylde Audio and uses it on the Warhammer. So its a case much like EVH going from Musicman to Peavey and finally his own brand. As he left each company, they were allowed to keep the design largely with a few tweaks but had to drop the namesake and logos.
 
Well, after watching the video in the OP, it seems all may not be lost. The ruling only affects the Luna Athena 501, the Gran Sport, the Dean V and the Dean Z. Plus, they cannot market anything with the name “hummingbird”.

Dean has already removed these models from their website, but I was able to find some internet pics.

For example, this is but one variant of the Dean V. They cannot make this anymore:

DeanV.jpg


But, they can still make their Dean Vengeance:

DeanVengeance.jpg


Likewise, though they can no longer make the Dean Z:

DeanZ.jpg


They can still make the Dean Zero:

DeanZero.jpg


Admittedly, the lines they can no longer make were very popular models, but there are still competitive models they can produce.
 
Thatbastarddon said:
...........use to avoid cease and desist letters.

I’m not gonna speculate further…
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Speaking of "Cease and Desist" letters....

When I was choosing what type of woods and finish I wanted for my DST-30, Bob offered me the cabinet that their original DST-30 was designed around. It had the correct early Vox grill cloth and white tolex. When they showed this amp at the New York Amp Show, they received a letter shortly thereafter from Korg (who owns the Vox name) telling them they can not use that design for the cabinet. They modified it slightly after the letter. So Bob said to me, "We can't really sell this cabinet, but I can give it to my neighbor and remove the cost of a cabinet from the total sale price. Then, it is no longer taking up space in my cellar."

I took the free cabinet because it does look great.

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