Fender company sent legal notices to every other company that manufactures stratocaster-shaped guitars or sells them in Europe. Fender wants them all to stop, destroy the whole already existing stock and pay compensation.

So far Fender managed to win a case in a German court against one single Chinese company, but that was only because the defendant's representative did not appear in that court. Fender's lawyers try to intimidate numeorus other companies, although Fender's arguments are very, very weak.

Many people started boycotting Fender because of this.

 

Last edited: May 18, 2026 at 8:19 PM

Given that they are basing this on precedent set by winning a previous case based on the other party not showing up, and the Strat body shape being public domain in the US and failing legal protection in previous cases, I'd say their claims probably won't go anywhere and Fender will lose these cases (and a lot of customer goodwill).

Really silly move, imo.

 

They are a "bit" late aren't they?

 

This is what happens when finance bros take over.

 

This sort of move is the worst thing I can imagine for brand image, we are so far removed from these being just the work of the original creator. The majority of the guitar designs (Strat, Tele, Jazz, Jag, P Bass, J Bass etc etc) were all designed by Leo Fender (with assistance from G. Fullerton & F. Tavares) & he has not been involved with the Fender company since he sold it to CBS when he was facing health issues in 1965 & then later went to create guitars for Music Man.

IP/Patent Trolling is some of the scummiest business out there. I also imagine this will have a knock effect & cause further Fender boycott, perhaps including people being less likely to use (the former Presonus StudioOne) now Fender Studio Pro DAW

 

How would it be IP/Patent trolling?? If Leo actually trademarked and/or owned those designs, then all rights and ownership would have transferred to CBS when they took over and then passed on to whoever else owned the IP after that. Just like inMusic owns the MPC nowadays. The "Strat" shape didnt exist until Fender invented it, just like the Les Paul shape didnt exist until Les Paul and Gibson came up with it. And in that case, that means whoever owns Fender now, owns that IP and the rights to that shape. Did nobody notice (or are you all too young) all the 'Super Strat' guitars in the 80s/90s weren't exactly shaped like Strats? My old 90s Ibanez RG550 might be 'similar' but it's not anything remotely close to the actual shape or contours of my 96 Strat.

Won't affect me at all, my guitars are all happily Fender (except for the Gibsons and Epiphones), and I'll keep buying them because, not only is Fender a local business (Charvel used to be right by my house in the 80s too), they do the job they were supposed to do and its what I've been playing for 35 years or so.

 

Last edited: May 19, 2026 at 3:46 AM