Gibson Suing Dimarzio

  • Thread starter Thread starter glpg80
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midnightlaundry said:
This is what conglomerates do.. They ruin everything that was good in the beginning. Boogie now sucks, and so does Gibson..
Fuck a stale ass Mark VII with the fake recording outs..
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How exactly? What is being ruined by fighting to cancel a trademark that should never have been granted in the first place, and only serves to fuck other winders over? The big evil conglomerate is trying level the playing field, whatever should we do!

Kelly said:
Well, no. Dimarzio was selling replacement pickups, Gibson was not. You could not buy double cream pickups from Gibson when Dimarzio filed their trademark. A lot of people confuse trademarks and patents whenever this subject comes up. Coca cola trademarked a style of bottle, noone else can use it. Car companies trademarked car colors, noone else can use them. Chevy can't use Hemi Orange, and Dodge can't use Hugger Orange. They ARE different shades. McDonald's trademarked a big yellow M, noone else can use it. After holding a trademark for 40+ years I highly doubt Gibson wins this one, same as Fender losing the Strat body style case. They should have sued 40 years ago.
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There are several key differences.

1) Gibson is fighting to cancel a trademark (aka make it public domain), not trying to retroactively trademark something fifty years too late like Fender did. They aren't trying to close the barn door after the horse ran out, they're trying to open the barn door and let the horse out.

2) There's a big difference between trademarking branding and trademarking a functional attribute. Coca-Cola's bottle is just branding. It's effectively a logo, and no one is going to not buy a soda because it doesn't have Coke's distinctive bottle. Same with the McDonalds M. Double cream coloring for pickups is a functional attribute, the color itself is a desirable feature for the consumer. This is why UPS were able to trademark their brown vans, but John Deere was denied for their green tractor.

3) Hemi Orange and Hugger Orange are specific shades. The exact formulation of that color is what constitutes the protected trademark. You can go to Sherwin Williams and get a quart of Hemi Orange and it is the correct color. This is NOT the case for DiMarzio. They have not trademarked a specific shade of yellow, they have trademarked an entire range of colors with no identification beyond "distinctive shade of cream." No color swatch, no paint code, CMYK, Pantone, etc. DiMarzio, when asked, will actually offer alternative colors that can be used and will provide Pantone codes for those, but not their own.
 
As much as I'm normally a "fuck Gibson" guy, I think they're in the right here.

Dimarzio shouldn't be able to patent a color scheme, especially one as common or obvious as "cream" on a humbucker, especially when like a third of all the guitar accessories manufactured today are cream colored. And the term "Patent Applied For" or PAF abbreviation relative to guitar pickups has become a generic term associated with a specific kind of tone as opposed to being known as some Dimarzio-specific model.
 
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Arch Stanton said:
Anyone can make pickups with two cream-colored bobbins.. they just can't call it "double cream".

Seymour will be releasing the "Cream Pie" humbucker soon.

:rolleyes:
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I was going to say..so Gibson is trying to cancel the trademark so anyone can issue double cream? Seems like small builders have anyway for years so who cares. But they are doing big guys like Duncan a favour by doing this so it's a win in my books. I prefer Duncan overall.

The PAF thing, who cares there as well. Call it a FAP and nothing changes. Gibson is reaching on this one but 1 for 2 ain't bad.
 
I hope Gibson wins. I like some Dimarzio pickups but the double cream thing is BS and always has been. The fact that they trademark a color is BS.
 
I've never played a Dimarzio that i can remember in my 40 years playing guitar. What are the Major Tonal Differences between them & say a Seymour Duncan?
 
The One said:
I've never played a Dimarzio that i can remember in my 40 years playing guitar. What are the Major Tonal Differences between them & say a Seymour Duncan?
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That’s like asking, “what is faster, a Ford or a Chevy?”
 
The One said:
I've never played a Dimarzio that i can remember in my 40 years playing guitar. What are the Major Tonal Differences between them & say a Seymour Duncan?
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dimarzio pickups across the board have always been brighter than duncans to my ears. i’ve gravitated towards duncans historically, but boutique is my jam these days.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
I was going to say..so Gibson is trying to cancel the trademark so anyone can issue double cream? Seems like small builders have anyway for years so who cares. But they are doing big guys like Duncan a favour by doing this so it's a win in my books. I prefer Duncan overall.

The PAF thing, who cares there as well. Call it a FAP and nothing changes. Gibson is reaching on this one but 1 for 2 ain't bad.
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Small builders are often sent C&D letters from DiMarzio threatening legal action for selling double creams. If they do offer double cream it has to be done hush-hush, because they are committing trademark infringement. Sometimes they'll sneak them under covers - Duncan used to do them this way by request - but they can catch a C&D for that too.

More than anyone it hurts the consumer.

The P.A.F. thing, I agree. Small potatoes and it's just a name.
 
mentoneman said:
dimarzio pickups across the board have always been brighter than duncans to my ears. i’ve gravitated towards duncans historically, but boutique is my jam these days.
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Me too. That's why i asked. I've been on a Motor City Pickup Kick & a Pariah Kick lately.
 
The One said:
Me too. That's why i asked. I've been on a Motor City Pickup Kick & a Pariah Kick lately.
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Hopefully I’ll end up with a guitar one day to try a Pariah in. So far, all my Hum guitars, I wouldn’t change a thing.
 
Gibson should sue Airstream next..

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thegame said:
9/10 users in a blind taste test prefer Duncans anyway. Maybe Dimarzio should work on that rather than frivolous lawsuits.
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Agreed, although neither is much to write home about imho. The fact that most high end guitars come stock with either one of those 2 or bkp's is nuts to me
 
I didn't know that. I just found them on the Gibson website. I might have to order a couple.
 
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