Years ago I had a friend who held an annual poetry contest called the Sylvia Plath Bake-Off. She got a C&D letter from Pillsbury.
Not joking.
Not joking.
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"Lawsuit" and "pre-lawsuit" instruments do not exist
- Thread starter BassAgent
- Start date
I honestly hadn't predicted this kind of discussion. Kinda regret starting this thread. TBH I would be better if a mod would close it. Sorry people.
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I am always going to remember this as the "lawsuit era" of talkbass whether or not you all sue each other.
Except it's not wrong in this case is it? Gibson vs. Elger Co. — filed June 28, 1977 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia). It's a matter of public record.
Yeah. The claims of absolutes/absolute (unequivocal, sweeping, etc...) statements that are intended to be taken for undebatable fact, for better or worse gets... attention.
Well, you did ask people to change their verbiage, and folks tend to not like that so much.
Also, whether or not the lawsuit(s) happened, that terminology is pretty much part of the vernacular now.
That said, I learned something from this thread, so I think that's kinda cool, but it doesn't change how folks describe their instruments.
I would think that whatever happened or the legalities in place today, there are amazing straight-up copies like the ESP Navigators and others that are dead-perfect copies of the electric classics that are very common in Japan and elsewhere in the Far East that will never be marketed here by their makers. The reasons would seem obvious.
espguitars.co.jp
NAVIGATOR | ESP GUITARS
2025年7月31日をもちまして、Navigatorシリーズは全モデル生産終了となりました。 ※一部シグネチュアモデルは当面の間、販売継続いたします。
espguitars.co.jp
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If I played it that's exactly what I'd get.i'm gonna start calling my early takamine 12-string a 'cease and desist' guitar because that is so much more fun
Does the THREAT of legal action count as "Lawsuit Era", as in "The 70's were an Era of threatened and actual Lawsuits by multiple guitar companies". If AI searches can be believed, Ric actually did sue Lollar pickups in 2013 for infringing on their horseshoe pickup design, and they sure as hell at least threatened to pursue legal action against the various Japanese clones. This is one of those pointless TB discussions where no Nit is left Unpicked, like the Tools who respond to the statement "the sky is blue" by saying "No it isn't, your eyes just perceive it that way because all the other colors of the spectrum are absorbed or reflected", as if that wasn't true of EVERY named color. I'm going to keep calling them "Lawsuit Basses" (and the sky blue) as a convenient and commonly accepted piece of language, which is, after all, the random and entirely nonsensical hootings of tool-using Primates. I Win the Argument! Sue Me!
I'm sending everyone in this thread a C&D letter, including myself.
I think if you asked the average person if a 'cease and desist' letter from a company is a lawsuit, they'd probably agree because it's legal action. Technically it's different, but the result is the same, the copied designs were not brought into the US, and/or the designs were modified.
I've had a whole bunch of guitars and basses from this era and still have a LP Greco that my brother has on loan, and I've also had no trouble selling Greco and Ibanez Ric copies from this era, but I never mentioned Rickenbacker in the title or copy.
I've had a whole bunch of guitars and basses from this era and still have a LP Greco that my brother has on loan, and I've also had no trouble selling Greco and Ibanez Ric copies from this era, but I never mentioned Rickenbacker in the title or copy.
You clearly have had ALOT of people on ignore fairly early. I've deleted all the ignores from my list a few times just to end up getting suspended a few times when I gave ANY sort of push back. Learned my lesson trying to "discuss" anything with "gold" members on this forum. I just ignore right from the jump now, makes browsing and enjoying the site a much better experience IMO, quite a few rage baiters perusing this forum and when you burn them they go straight to the mods.
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Just don’t try to sell any Redenbacher basses.
