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Patenting a Body/Headstock?

#21
Aka Nameless said:
Man if you could PM me with the paperwork that I need to fill out, that would be awesome.

To the guys questioning me cause my guitarist drew up the design.. I told him to draw me a bunch of guitar bodies, and IF I pick one that I like, I will make him the first guitar in that body style for free, as payment for the design. Which is what the maple/purpleheart project i'm about to start is going to be.

I'm amazed that none of you are worried about people stealing your designs.. There are tons of lurkers on this and every forum that never post, they just read and take ideas.

And, I heard from someone that if you get a copyright on a body/headstock design, it needs to be changed by 20% if someone else wants to make and sell a guitar that resembles it. I think Stratocaster bodies are a different story.
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I've never made a bass, but I have invented or designed a lot of gadgets.

I have 12 patents, but they are all for things that I invented in conjunction with my day job, so my employer owns them. Those patents are actually a fraction of the number of things that I've invented. Every invention goes through a review process where a business decision is made on whether to patent it, versus other options, which include doing nothing.

I don't know if this applies to you, but some of Fender's designs are covered by design patents. I am not 100% sure how these differ from a copyright, or how much they cost. For any sort of intellectual property protection, the benefits have to be weighed against the costs. Is the protection of a patent worth more than the same amount of money and time spent towards developing other aspects of your business?

A lot of really small business guys skip patenting and assume that they will be in and out of the market before any competitor can catch up with them. Also, some designs just don't have enough inherent value to be worth patenting, if somebody else can come up with something similar with minimal effort, or if a market (such as basses) is already crowded with products of similar cost and functionality.

However, an area where a patent can help is when it comes time to sell a business. I know a guy who walked away with 30 million bucks for a business that he sold, which was based on an invention that he patented.
 
#24
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." (something like that)

I've actually had people ask me if they can use one of my shapes (like the one SDG has), and I tell them no, but I can't stop them.

In any case, I agree with those that said post the shape here asap. It is in effect publishing it, and with a dated record there is no question who had it first.
 
#25
Krakmann said:
What's the problem if anyone decides to use your body design? Do you intend to make a living with it?
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+1.

Whatever are you worried about?

Are you expecting to get so famous that people will recognise a body shape as distinctly YOURS, so that even a guitar branded differently will still be SO obviously alluding to your brand as to cause confusion?

Even if i were a builder, and i am not, i would be worried much much more about the people who will pass of their work as mine in the form of copying my logo or company name and sticking it to their guitars, not by the guitar shape.
 
#26
Son of Magni said:
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." (something like that)

I've actually had people ask me if they can use one of my shapes (like the one SDG has), and I tell them no, but I can't stop them.
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I have asked if I could use some body shapes that I like. And they said that I could as long as I do not use the design for commercial use. I know that I didn't have to ask, but I thought that it was the right thing to do. Having said that, if they told me no, then I would not use the design.
 
#27
I'll be starting a build thread for the purpleheart/maple guitar with the new body shape pretty soon. Then you'll all get to see what it looks like. I have tomorrow off so i'll be rough cutting the wood and probably gluing up the body core/neck. I'll take some pics.

And yes, I do plan on "trying" to make a living on making guitars/basses... I dont see it happening for a few years at least, so I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon, but i'm sick of waiting tables..
 
#28
Aka Nameless said:
And yes, I do plan on "trying" to make a living on making guitars/basses... I dont see it happening for a few years at least, so I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon, but i'm sick of waiting tables..
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I would love to build instruments full time. Notice that I didn't say for a living. I am only 29 right now, so that gives me a long time to learn until I do this full time. That will be when I retire. Or win the lotto!

Until then I plan on making 3-4 basses/guitars a year. My next one will be completely from scratch. I am finally over my fear of making my own neck.
 

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