Gibson is suing Tampa’s Armadillo Enterprises over guitar trademarks

Share
Luna Athena 2018 guitar by Armadillo resembles a Gibson ES-335 semi-hollow body with double cutaways and twin humbuckers
Luna Athena guitar. Gibson says it violates the trademark of its ES-335. By Seán Kinane / WMNF News.

One of the most famous guitar manufacturers in the world is suing a much smaller company that makes guitars in Tampa; Gibson is suing Tampa’s Armadillo Enterprises, which makes guitars under the Dean and Luna brands.

Gibson says three Dean or Luna guitars violate its trademarks.

Law professor Darryl Wilson, an associate dean at Stetson University College of Law, calls it “an interesting case from the standpoint of when you think of a trademark.”

“Much like any dispute in trademark law, though, what the judge will be looking at is whether or not the protected subject matter is distinctive. You need something to be distinctive in order to be able to get a trademark registration for it in the first place. And then, also, on the other end: has it been adequately policed once the trademark was procured? Or, has it been allowed to be used by the general public in a manner that gives rise to a claim that it’s generic?”

The three guitar styles that Gibson is suing Armadillo over are the Gibson Flying V, Explorer and ES-335.

The first is shaped like an inverted “V,” the second has an angular shape and the third is a semi-hollowbody figure-eight-shaped guitar with two cutaways.

They range from pretty-distinctive shapes to, well, a fairly standard guitar shape.

“The Flying V, it was very different when it was introduced. The ES-335, I’m not so sure if that was very different. But today it looks like what the average citizen would think of as a guitar.”

WMNF reached out to both Gibson and Armadillo but they did not agree to an interview.

Gibson is suing other guitar manufacturers as well and professor Wilson points out that Gibson has lost to the defendants in a few cases in the U.S. and European Union.

“Defendants in these cases will try to show that they didn’t adequately police their mark, and therefore they allowed this to be commonplace. And if it’s commonplace, then in the legal parlance, that means it’s generic and no longer protectable.”

The lawsuit was first reported by Guitar Magazine.

Full disclosure, Armadillo is a community partner of WMNF.

 

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

True Talk
Player position: