Yes. It's really damaging. I know quite a bit about this space because its relevant to my work.
"Shape" based trademarks (ie; the shape of the body design) are enforceable in the US, but they are very challenging to defend. Most countries don't really allow for it - but the US does. The way it works though, is that a company that wants to defend their "shape trademark" must defend it whenever they see someone knocking it off.
That sounds logical enough but it costs time and money to defend these things. For a small company that can be a real barrier - they simply don't have the cash or the manpower to defend all these violations.
The problem is - if you don't defend them - eventually you lose the right to defend them and then the design is (for all intents & purposes) public domain (like the Fender designs are today).
Brand trademarks are easier to defend but the same principle applies - if enough examples exist of a company not defending its trademark - they can lose that trademark. This is what happened to Bayer with "Aspirin". The term became so generic that eventually they couldn't claim it was theirs anymore.
So it seems innocent enough, but in reality it steals legitimate trademarks and designs from a very small company - and puts them at risk for losing those trademarks and designs. Since (I'm sure) Fodera has limited resources to fight these things - it really runs the risk of hurting the little guy.
So bottom line - this sort of thing is bad. It doesn't matter how "innocent" it appears to be. It hurts Fodera that somebody is out doing this and I hope they stop (and destroy that bass while they're at it).
Entering the realm of 'cool story, bro' legal bs. Get out while you still can.
As far as trademark is concerned, all the shape and wood combinations used by Fodera are public domain - there are lots of high quality luthiers making very similarly shaped basses (Marleaux and Wood & Tronics single cuts come to mind re: the Imperial design, but obviously there are many more). There is absolutely no way Fodera could make a trademark claim to any of those.
The one bass that there is a feasible claim for is the Yin Yang - the design aspects of wood blending in that model, and the clear and uniform visual they create in every bass of that model gives it a good shot of being protectable if that were copied.
The logo itself is another matter. Using both the name in the same font on the truss rod cover and the identically placed and shaped butterfly with what appears to be the same material is an open and shut case if Fodera haven't been letting that design be used freely.
Is there a downside that makes the past three paragraphs totally irrelevant in this case? Why yes, yes there is. Trademark law only applies to goods used in commerce, so if this guy is just making them for himself, as looks like the case here, it doesn't even apply. If he started selling them, be it openly as knock-off Foderas or actually trying to pass them off as Foderas, he would be in trouble under pretty much every provision of the Lanham Act. Even so, unless he's personally wealthy one guy with a wood shop isn't going to be able to cover Fodera's legal fees when he loses the case, so it would be a matter of Fodera investing money in brand name protection, rather than just getting an injunction against this guy and having their fees covered. It's not like he has a factory pumping out Fedoras as quickly as they can pump out Foderas.
Fodera could also use copyright in the same manner with the Yin Yang, but not the other bass designs/appearances. Even the Yin Yang would be a bit tough, as the woods chosen do have a specific functional quality - they are tone woods designed to produce the best sound, they just happen to be exquisite-looking also.
That would definitely be a problem with other models, with the YY maybe not so much, as the choice of woods is strictly limited to woods of the colour that can produce the artistic design, rather than producing a design requiring specific woods in that specific shape to produce the tone, with the graphic nature being secondary - compare the YYD and Monarch D in strictly tone and (correct me if I'm wrong) a monarch with, say, an alder body and ebony top would sound pretty similar to a Yin Yang with alder and ebony blended, assuming all electronics etc. were the same?
However, it's again pretty irrelevant in this case as the guy is likely judgment-proof so they would again be throwing money down a well to shut up one plagiarising jackass. I'm sure they have more constructive things to be investing in (sorry, my pun filter is broken).
