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Fender decals = illegal?


AtomHeartMother

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Technically, it's trademark infringement to apply a logo to any instrument that is not a factory-built Fender. That includes a replacement (licensed) neck on an otherwise all Fender guitar.


Will Fender hunt you down if you put a fake decal on your guitar? Probably not.


But - even if you have all kinds of disclaimers, if you ever sell the guitar with a fake decal, you're violating trademark laws and could be subject to hassling.


There was a story a couple years ago on the tele page - a guy was retrofitting telecasters with 12-string bridges and warmoth 12-string necks. He was putting Fender decals on, and selling the guitars on ebay. Probably on the order of one or two a year. His auctions indicated fully what parts were used, and that the guitars were not stock fenders. One of his buyers complained to Paypal after the auction that the guitar was not a Fender. Paypal asked to inspect the guitar, and six weeks later, refunded all of the buyer's money, and told the seller the instrument was a trademark violation and was 'destroyed'.


There is very little difference between a parts-guitar with a fake decal and those chinese-built Gibsons. Because the trademark law doesn't say ANYTHING about intent. If there's a fake logo, it's a violation, regardless of notice, disclaimers, or intent.

 

 

wrong, and i dont know about the truth to that tele 12 string story, but paypal owes that guy a guitar if they actually destroyed it.

 

- can you put a decal on your guitar? yes. its yours, you can do whatever the {censored} you want with it. it is NOT a violation of any laws whatsoever to put a fender decal on your own guitar.

- can you sell said guitar used? yes. but you must sell it with full disclosure that it is not a factory fender product.

- could you make and sell NEW guitars with LICENSED warmoth necks and a fender logo. yes. again, as long as you provied full disclosure, this is precisely what the license allows. a shop near me sells warmoth partsocasters with a fender logo. they are advertised using warmoth/allparts licensed parts. these parts have burned in logos so they can be easily identified. the fender police DID come knocking after recievign a complaint. they dissasembled one tele, confirmed it was warmoth and went on their merry way.

 

in fact, the only way to get in trouble is by doing the obvious... selling a non licensed guitar "new" to the public using fender trademarks, OR selling any non fender product AS a genuine fender.

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- could you make and sell NEW guitars with LICENSED warmoth necks and a fender logo. yes. again, as long as you provied full disclosure, this is precisely what the license allows. a shop near me sells warmoth partsocasters with a fender logo. they are advertised using warmoth/allparts licensed parts. these parts have burned in logos so they can be easily identified. the fender police DID come knocking after recievign a complaint. they dissasembled one tele, confirmed it was warmoth and went on their merry way.


 

 

I don't think that's correct. As far as I know, and have heard, the license allows only for the use of the trademarked headstock shape, not the logo.

 

In fact, Nash guitars used to ship with a Fender logo, and got a cease 'n' desist letter from Fender. They now ship with no logo on the headstock at all. I've seen other dealers pull parts-guitars from their webpage because they have an aftermarket fender logo.

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I don't think that's correct. As far as I know, and have heard, the license allows only for the use of the trademarked headstock shape, not the logo.


In fact, Nash guitars used to ship with a Fender logo, and got a cease 'n' desist letter from Fender. They now ship with no logo on the headstock at all. I've seen other dealers pull parts-guitars from their webpage because they have an aftermarket fender logo.

 

 

again, you may not know the full circumstances of the cease and desist... and whether it was simply bullying or if there was actual legal merrit.

 

what ive said is what the courts would hold up.

 

ironically it IS illegal for anyone to sell you a new fender logo decal that isnt authorized by fender.

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I have a Fender logo on my Warmoth strat, but its mine, and its not for sale, and Fenders wish they sounded this good.
:)
See, notice the {censored} eatin grin on my face as I glance at the Fender logo??????
:)
either that or my ass is getting tickled by the thunder that is Splawn??? LOL as you can probably tell, we are a black metal band!
:)



every metal band I'm in is a black metal band:lol:

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again, you may not know the full circumstances of the cease and desist... and whether it was simply bullying or if there was actual legal merrit.


what ive said is what the courts would hold up.


ironically it IS illegal for anyone to sell you a new fender logo decal that isnt authorized by fender.

 

 

 

I know that the logo and the headstock shape are different trademarks, and I know that Fender has repeatedly stated that they have not and will not license ANYONE to apply a Fender logo. So the logos on warmoth necks are trademark infringements. Did the case ever go to court to get 'held up'? Probably not, and probably because it was a slam-dunk in Fender's favor.

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I know that the logo and the headstock shape are different trademarks, and I know that Fender has repeatedly stated that they have not and will not license ANYONE to apply a Fender logo. So the logos on warmoth necks are trademark infringements. Did the case ever go to court to get 'held up'? Probably not, and probably because it was a slam-dunk in Fender's favor.

 

 

again, i can show precedent where fender has allowed warmoth partsocasters to be sold with the logo.

 

in any case, none of this matters to the individual player. fair use covers anythig you might want to do to your own guitar.

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again, i can show precedent where fender has allowed warmoth partsocasters to be sold with the logo.


in any case, none of this matters to the individual player. fair use covers anythig you might want to do to your own guitar.

 

 

 

And I can cite builders who were told to remove the logos from their partscasters.

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And I can cite builders who were told to remove the logos from their partscasters.

 

 

again... were they actually sued and did they lose in court.

 

having a company "tell you" to remove the logo doesnt mean that using the logo was in fact illegal. i seem to recall gibson "telling" several people to stop doing things... like say, PRS... and more recently a tokai dealer in europe. those didnt end all that well for gibson.

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No way in a million years can you use the Fender logo on a guitar without their approval.

 

 

It's funny how everyone suddenly becomes a copyright expert.

 

But this guy's wrong, as has been explained by several others in this thread, regardless of whether or not he, or you, or anyone else "thinks" it's "lame" or whatever, it is not illegal to apply ANYTHING, to your own guitar, nor is it illegal to sell it SO LONG as you are selling it with full disclosure, and not attempting to defraud the buyer. Sure, Fender could ask you to not do it again, and they COULD take you to court for selling it to try to recoup their "loss", but would they bother? They didn't sue Bill Nash ...

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It's funny how everyone suddenly becomes a copyright expert.


But this guy's wrong, as has been explained by several others in this thread, regardless of whether or not he, or you, or anyone else "thinks" it's "lame" or whatever, it is not illegal to apply ANYTHING, to your own guitar, nor is it illegal to sell it SO LONG as you are selling it with full disclosure, and not attempting to defraud the buyer. Sure, Fender could ask you to not do it again, and they COULD take you to court for selling it to try to recoup their "loss", but would they bother? They didn't sue Bill Nash ...

 

 

Then why did Bill Nash quit selling guitars with fake Fender logos?

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It's funny how everyone suddenly becomes a copyright expert.


But this guy's wrong, as has been explained by several others in this thread, regardless of whether or not he, or you, or anyone else "thinks" it's "lame" or whatever, it is not illegal to apply ANYTHING, to your own guitar, nor is it illegal to sell it SO LONG as you are selling it with full disclosure, and not attempting to defraud the buyer. Sure, Fender could ask you to not do it again, and they COULD take you to court for selling it to try to recoup their "loss", but would they bother? They didn't sue Bill Nash ...

 

 

Holy fu@k you douche!

 

Yeh its not illegal to slap a Fender logo on your personal guitar, hell maybe it flippin' is, but how would Fender ever find out.

 

Try and sell that as a Fender and it is illegal.

 

Yeh I'm not a fu@kin' lawyer!

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I NEVER put Fender decals on my Partscaster. But if you are building an ALL FENDER PARTS electric? I se nothing wrong with it.

Though Warmoth, All-Parts are Fender Lic, they are NOT Fender and I don't believe you should use Fender decals. IMHO Warmoth Pro Sseries necks are BETTER than ANYTHING Fender has to offer aside from some of their BETTER Custom Shop necks. So its NOT a point of quality. Its a point of deception. Warmoth simply is not Fender and to siggest this is to be decietfull.

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I NEVER put Fender decals on my Partscaster. But if you are building an ALL FENDER PARTS electric? I se nothing wrong with it.


Though Warmoth, All-Parts are Fender Lic, they are NOT Fender and I don't believe you should use Fender decals. IMHO Warmoth Pro Sseries necks are BETTER than ANYTHING Fender has to offer aside from some of their BETTER Custom Shop necks. So its NOT a point of quality. Its a point of deception. Warmoth simply is not Fender and to siggest this is to be decietfull.

 

 

If your building a all Fender parts guitar wouldn't the neck allready have the Fender logo?

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