The devil is in the details, as some might say

 

I mean... the DiscoDSP/The Usual Suspect situation is one thing but this is next level.
I wouldn't be surprised if Roland, Korg, Sequential and Oberheim decide to fuck Behringer up in the future.

Ultimately, like this guy said, the customer looses, again and always.

 

behringer should Get off their high horse they literally reverse engineer other people’s hardware

 

Late revenge? In 2005, Roland/Boss sued the Behringer company; here is the article:

Spoiler

Leading electronic musical instrument and equipment manufacturer Roland Corporation has sued Behringer International GmbH and its subsidiaries to enforce Rolands trade dress, trademark, and other intellectual property rights in and to the famous guitar effects pedals manufactured, distributed and sold by Rolands division, BOSS, as well as other Roland products.

BOSS has long been an industry leader in the design and manufacture of guitar effects pedals, recording equipment and other musical instrument accessories. In addition to their unparalleled sound, the BOSS pedals feature a unique combination of aesthetic design elements which have served to establish BOSS as an instantly-recognizable brand and to distinguish BOSS pedals from pedals manufactured by others.

The Complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that at the January, 2005 National Association of Music Merchants ("NAMM") industry trade show, Behringer announced the launch of a line of guitar effects pedals which replicate the distinctive design features of the BOSS pedals with such painstaking detail that the Behringer pedals are nearly indistinguishable from the BOSS pedals. Roland contends that this is no coincidence, and that the overall look and feel of the Behringer pedals is intentionally designed to confuse consumers as to the origin, sponsorship or affiliation of the Behringer Pedals, and to capitalize and profit from Roland's success, its impeccable reputation and the goodwill that it has developed over years of hard work.

The Complaint alleges that in an effort to gain industry acceptance of the cloned pedals, Behringer falsely assured industry retailers that the Behringer line of pedals was approved and endorsed by Roland.

Dennis Houlihan, President of Roland Corporation U.S. commented: "Imitation is not flattery, and is far from sincere, when the subject is Roland's valuable trade dress. Roland has expended monumental effort and substantial amounts to create and promote the design elements of its BOSS line of guitar effects pedals. Behringer's replication of the famous BOSS trade dress has caused extensive damage to Roland and its reputation, and Behringer's false claim that Roland has endorsed Behringer's unadulterated infringement is unconscionable."

 

Last edited by a moderator: Mar 15, 2026 at 9:27 PM

Yeah, they're not any different than Lego or Mattel or Nestle or all other huge corps.
Those have a department full of lawers and legal desputes are part of the game.

I mean the fact that Boss had to take out that feature shows that it IS Behringers intellectual property.
Does anyone think Boss would not have sued if it was the other way round?
To me it even seems that Boss was salty about the fact that Behringer offered them a license.
How much would it have cost them? 5 cents per unit?
I guess they were like "Before fcking Behringer get's one cent out of our pockets we take out that feature".

But I'm not rooting for Behringer. I have mixed feelings about them.
My very first console was the eurorack. It was a 1:1 rip-off of Mackies design.
Minus the quality. But I was happy it existed, I wouldn't have been able to afford anything else.
They became better at that game over time, making it not that obvious what and where they copied with own creations here and there, quality became a little better too...
But Behringer definitely was killing companies on it's way up by taking away business.
And buying those companies on the cheap after hurting them.
But still, lets face it, a lot of people are getting into producing because behringer makes an entry on a budget possible.
And that's a good thing I guss?

 

Like Plendix said.

From what I understand it seems like business as usual. Meh.

 

Behringer manufactures in China and benefits from the low wages. Their goal has always been to be cheaper than the competition. In the beginning, Behringer was a cheap Chinese company, lots of plastic, little quality.

As @Plendix already mentioned, this has actually improved significantly in recent years, so that Behringer has become a real competitor for the big players. This means that the other companies either have to improve or produce more cheaply.

I've always used Roland, Yamaha, and TC Helicon hardware. And for guitars and amps, I've used Fender, Marshall, and Ibanez.
I never even considered buying Behringer.

 

Here's my hypothesis on how corporate legal departments work: they're big and they cost a lot. Because of that they have to constantly show how that massive money sink is actually worth it.

So it's all to show that they're proactive (ugh) about doing the best for the company. Cue: lawsuits like this. Also, because there's been a legal wrestle previously this could be just for leverage for whatever reason. Whatever, I'm not a lawyer.

 

Nintendo, Taylor Swift and now Behringer... scary stuff

 

If Behringer behaves like others also behave since ancient times it's the fault of Behringer? Come on, guys, stupid as that can't even a musician be. If Behringer has to follow the letter of the law others have to do also. And knocking of products? Building known circuits is not knocking off, you stupids.

 

Behringer manufactures in China ---
Have you ever opened one of your .. Roland, Yamaha, and TC Helicon, ... ???