GhostGuitarist

Not sure exactly where to put this, but I thought I'd make a post regarding this after reading the thread with the Nuno N4 replica that was being sold on ebay.

Now, please first understand, this is nothing against that auction or how it was listed, this is simply put, a post regarding design theft etc.

I have just completed filing of patents and trademarks for the LGM Leviathan models. This is a brutally expensive process so when somebody goes through the hassles, time and expense of doing it, they expect their design protected.

Under law, once a design is Patented, be it the Leviathan, a Strat, a Les Paul or otherwise, copying that design for more than personal use is completely illegal.

The minute you post pictures you can be held liable for design theft if it can be concluded that you are using those pictures for personal gain, (ie: promotion)

This is not a concern with posting project pictures really because no company is going to spend the money involved in a lawsuit on trying to nail somebody who is attempting to copy a guitar, the exception might be PRS, they seem to try to sue everyone. Well, maybe the Van Halen camp as well.

If you try selling that guitar, you are immediately liable for design theft. You are stealing a patented design plain and simple and looking to profit from it. This includes but is not limited to, trading items for the guitar, even if you sell it for only a penny, it is considered profit reaped from another persons/companies design.

In short, everyone was complaining about that particular auction being fraudulant due to a description that was misleading, making it sound like it was an original guitar, thats true, that's what I thought when I read it as well. However, being a hobby builder for yourself is fine, when you start selling the guitars, be aware of the legal issues you may face. Typically if you're just a small builder there will be no problems, as you become higher profile people start to notice.

This is one of the reasons I designed the Leviathan. Everyone knows I started out by customizing Ibanez's to look like Custom Jem's. I don't want to do that forever and end up in trouble with Ibanez, I have a "handshake" agreement with them (which really doesn't protect me from anything, just an act of good faith) that says I can make custom Ibanez guitars provided I do NOT put "Ibanez" on a non Ibanez neck, never put "JEM" on a guitar that was not originally a JEM, and do not try to ever sell guitars that weren't original Ibanez parts as Ibanez guitars.

That's all fine and good, but now more people are wanting 8 strings and I am not going to build an 8 string that looks like an Ibanez when Ibanez doesn't even have one, hence the Leviathan.

Anyway, this is not in any way meant to discourage anyone. Just to make you aware, if you want to sell your guitars you build on ebay, and they are replica's, remember, the big companies are watching Ebay looking for fraud, that is where you'll start to get in trouble.

Be careful, be smart, and have fun!

Jeremy

Mmmm.it's an interesting notion, but if just Fender were to legally be able to say "we have sole rights and ownership of this "shape", how many other guitar manufacturers would go out of business. Here's a thought. Who came up with the truss rod? who came up with the "shape" for guitar frets? If they were able to TM it, what then? ......A song is "copyright" the owner. One point worth mentioning here as well is...., having "copyright" on a song doesn't mean I can't re-record it and sell it, AMCOS will issue you with, for a small fee, a "license" and you will pay "royalties" to the composer, which again is very little.

How about black and white ebony?

If it's for an Aussie guitarist, why not use an Aussie tonewood?