Fender: Gear4music says Fender relationship is ‘strong’ amid guitar giant’s cease and desist campaign
The chair of Yorkshire musical instrument retailer Gear4music has insisted the company still has a positive relationship with guitar giant Fender, despite the US firm sending cease and desist letters to a string of companies which use designs resembling its famous guitars.
Gear4music, the UK's largest musical instrument retailer, declined to say if it was one of the many companies to receive a cease and desist from Fender, with chair Andrew Wass saying he intends to have a "strong working relationship" with the company now and into the future.
Following a recent court ruling in Germany, Fender has sent cease and desist letters to a string of companies across the US and Europe demanding they stop using its famous Stratocaster guitar body shape.
Gear4music is amongst the thousands of guitar makers which use the Stratocaster body shape for their own-brand guitars, seen with its LA range, first launched in 2003.
Mr Wass said the firm had always been "very respectful of other brands," adding: "We don't want to copy people, we want to do our own thing and offer our own values."
Fender’s legal action comes after the firm won a copyright case earlier this year against a Chinese musical instruments company, with the Regional Court of Düsseldorf ruling that the Stratocaster guitar is a copyrightable work. This followed a failed attempt from Fender to trademark its Stratocaster and Telecaster guitar shapes in 2009.
First launched by Fender in the 1950s, the Stratocaster is by far the world’s most popular style of electric guitar, with the body shape used by companies across the globe for decades.
It is unclear how many guitar-makers have now been sent cease and desist letters following the latest ruling, but those to confirm range from family-run guitar makers to industry giants including PRS Guitars, a company endorsed by Ed Sheeran and John Mayer.
Europe’s largest musical instrument retailer, Germany-based Thomann, said that it is also amongst those “affected” by the case, with the company announcing earlier this month that it was taking legal action against Fender.
Posting on its company blog, Thomann said it believes questions raised by the dispute “affect the future of diversity, innovation and competition in our industry.”
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post this week, Gear4music chair Mr Wass declined to say if the York-based company was amongst those to receive a cease and desist from Fender, but when asked stated: “I think Fender have been clear with everybody in the industry, on what they're looking to achieve on this. I don't think there’s any part of the industry has not talked to Fender, but, we've got really close with the relationship with Fender, so there are no issues there.”
He added the the company aims to “continue to build” on its relationship with Fender.
Gear4music also declined to comment further when asked again later if the company had received a cease and desist letter.
Fender was approached for comment. The company previously told The Wall Street Journal that it was not asking for companies to recall or destroy products, adding: “Fender is working with the manufacturers to redesign the shapes, while the manufacturers sell off existing unauthorized inventory.”
Fender also told GuitarWorld in a statement that its goal is “simply to protect one of the company’s most iconic and recognizable designs while continuing to support a vibrant and innovative guitar industry.”