Yep, America's favorite grifter, that President-elect with his hand in your pocket is at again. Donald Trump Guitars. Of course, why not? Once again, however, tiny, almost insignificant problems have arisen. If you're going to grift, then GRIFT. Borrow/steal the design of the body of your guitar's shape from the immortal Les Paul. Tiny, almost insignificant problem #2: Gibson owns the rights to that design and wasn't happy, so it was Cease and Desist letter time. The website is currently not active and poor Donald is likely looking for his next grift, I mean, gig. How about the Pocket Fisherman or the Donald Trump Flowbee? Stand by for Gibson execs to be indicted late January 2025. Some actually consider this to be a source of information, the New York Post.: Trump Guitars allegedly ripped off Gibson's Les Paul design
The next grift will be on a little blue pill. Trump's face on wide side and a picture of the Bible on the other
These were selling from between $1500 to $11,500 for an autographed guitar. The $11,500 ones were sold out. "The Only Guitar Officially Endorsed by President Donald J. Trump." George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK among other great American presidents are weeping in their graves.
Not backing up Trump here but I never could understand the Les Paul thing. Back in the 80s when I had my custom homebuilding business I was sent a letter by D R Horton homes saying one of my homes was a copy of one of their models. My lawyer sent them back a letter that said our homes are a work of art and you can't copyright artwork. I don't understand how a certain shape can be copyrighted.
I’m not a guitar guy and have no idea what makes a good guitar, so I’m asking what is the gripe? Is it the shape? I imagine it can’t be sound….so had to be the shape. do guitar makers TM or copyright a specific shape ? Is trump presenting the guitars as Gibson or Les Paul?
So, we’re really in a situation where a company that makes its product completely in the United States has to take legal action against the president-elect because he’s selling ripoff copies of their product, made in other countries. And he’s really convinced much of the American public that he’s all about protecting the US
1. You can absolutely copyright artwork. Art, writing, choreography, Stage plays, music, architecture, etc. are core types of expressions copyright law exists to protect. Your lawyer may have been saying what he had to say to represent his client but your summary of his assertion is wrong on a basic level. 2. The Gibson Guitars argument is based on trademark, not copyright. Gibson has been successful multiple times in making this exact argument in disputes against other guitar makers who copied the Les Paul design. Each case is its own thing, but this is a no-brainer for Gibson.
The Les Paul is truly iconic. Many of the songs we know and love were played on the (Gibson) Les Paul. The (Gibson) Les Paul and Marshall amp. has a distinctive sound all its own. I personally own two Les Paul's one made by Gibson the other by Epiphone. Les Paul actually designed the SG model to supplant the Les Paul in order to avoid having to pay so much money to his wife which he was in the process of divorcing. So it is not uncommon for the Les Paul to be copied generally w/ a slight variation to avoid suit from Gibson. As noted in the video Gibson is very active when it comes to protecting against "knock-offs" Which of course is fair play to them. It would seem that Trump's people need to be a little more on the ball when it comes to items he lends his name to. At the end of the day it's just business and business litigation. Unfortunately all too often those two things frequently go hand in hand. Personally I would much rather have my Les Paul signed by Jimmy Page. But, each to their own.
You guys missed the best part of Trumps latest “day that ends in y” scam. Real Gibson guitars, including the Les Paul, are still made in USA by American workers. Trumps counterfeit knock offs were imported (because of course they were).
My God you Trumpers elected a snake oil salesman...it goes beyond the pale how y'all were duped. But hey it's Murica'....land of the free and the land of the???????
It’s the shape, which isn’t entirely unrelated to sound. Selling it with a fake brand name would be criminal fraud, but that isn’t at issue here. This is a dispute over the shape which is arguable in court as IP theft depending on how close it is. Looks pretty close so it seems Gibson has a legit beef to sue in civil court. Most likely this company was already knocking them off separate and apart of Trump.
He got the idea from Ivanka, who also liked to "borrow" other company's designs. Ivanka Trump ripped off shoe designs, lawsuit alleges
And 20 million democratic voters didn't vote because they didn’t think it was important enough to vote their party. They could have stopped Trump. Want to b!tch, lay it on at least one of those.
