Gibson vs Dean: Token victory

A few days ago, a federal court ruling stated that Gibson has the legal rights over its guitar designs against Dean. These are notably the V & Explorer type outlines which existed in the Dean catalogs. However, it merely received $4K in damages owing to the fact that they took too long to effect this legal right, as such, no commercial damages were observed along the way. It's like saying, you ignored this right all this while so it implies you are ok with it so here's some candy money for your trouble.

The effect here is that, since Gibson won, Dean no longer has the right to have these designs in their offerings, these must be stopped / removed. Dean stated that the designs are now generic & used most notably by almost all guitar manufacturers. This was the contention that was defeated by the court & led to the Gibson victory. 

If I were Dean, I would bring the matter up to appeal, stating that the crucial factor that excludes any manufacturer from litigation is the headstock design. This refers to all guitar outlines, not just the V & Explorer that treaded the legal discourse. If you can vary the design at the headstock end, you are pertty much safe. You can imply similarity & possible confusion but you cannot effect a design infringement claim since it's not exactly the same. 

Moving on, this is next in line for Gibson. This is the reason why there are currently no Gibsons in Swee Lee's catalogs save for the leftovers from years back. We are simply baffled why Gibson is pursuing the matter considering they gave their blessings to the Heritage camp plus the fact that there're design variations as well. The case had been in contention since March 2020. 

Pics: Guitarcollective / Music Radar