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The Ugly Side of Music
Today on MySpace I read a bulletin from Wintersong Guitars. Apparently, another guitar manufacturer, Halo, is taking issue with one of their models. Read the supposed letter that they received from Halo:
Hello Winter Song Guitars,
This is Jeff Lee with Halo Custom Guitars – I need to start a dialogue with the owner of Winter Song Guitars.
In case you are unaware, the Heathen guitar model is far too similar to the Halo GVK Series guitars, which Halo has been producing and selling since 2004.
I respectfully ask that you immediately discontinue the production and sale of this model, remove the Heathen from your website and provide me with the quantity of Heathen guitars produced and sold in the history of your company. Additionally, I would appreciate if you tell me the name of the OEM factory that is supplying you with these instruments.
I expect swift action on your part to cease the infringement of Halo Guitars’ intellectual property (design patent; GVK).
My lawyer is drafting a settlement agreement regarding the discontinuation of the Winter Song Heathen guitars at this time.
Please feel free to contact me by phone or e-mail regarding this issue.
Thank you,
Jeff Lee
Wow, I imagine that this sort of thing must happen all the time, right? I mean, how many Fender Stratocaster knock-offs are there in the world? My first guitar was a strat rip-off. Granted, the guitar that Wintersong manufactures (left side) looks exactly like the one Halo makes:
So, who is right in this situation?
Is Halo being overly-protective, or do they have a legitimate reason to go after Wintersong?
The guitar does have the exact same shape. But I could argue that fact on a number of guitars.
Written by DS
Dan Spiteri is the owner and main shenanigan distributor of Bay Area Metal Scene. When he's not blasting his hearing into oblivion, you can find him doing "outdoorsy" stuff like skiing, bike riding and drinking cheap beer.
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4 Responses to "The Ugly Side of Music"
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If Halo has a legitimate and fully encompassing patent of the specs of their design, they have a case, barring that those specifications aren’t so detailed that the differences in the Wintersong guitar make it sufficiently different. Meaning, the precise shape, materials used, dimensions, weight, etc., may not be identical.
Having said that, there is also the point of trademarking the shape, similar to what Coca-Cola did with their bottle shape. If Halo has not trademarked the shape as definitive of their brand, they may not have a great case after all. Like you were saying, the fact that there are so many shape knockoffs for other guitars could become a major point.
But since we don’t know all the facts, this is just a broad speculation/opinion. I’m sure this will settle out of court.
I vaguely remember hearing something in the past about “headstocks” and guitars. Basically if the headstocks were different, then there was no case for infringement, i.e. ESP and Gibson Les Pauls. But, there’s gotta be more to it than that.
Either way… that’s a pretty shameless ripoff of a butt-ugly guitar.
I would say they are both a ripoff of ESP’s F-series.