You are welcome to follow him: LinkedIn Prof. Dr. Jan Bernd Nordemann
Copyright Lovers – Also music lover? If yes, you will not have missed the Stratocaster uproar in Germany and beyond.
The Fender Stratocaster is the world’s most famous electric guitar. And likely also the world’s most copied electric guitar. A judgment by default of the Landgericht (District Court) Duesseldorf held that the Fender Stratocaster was copyright protected in Germany. This could significantly change the first- and second-hand guitar market. Considerable parts of the standard inventory of guitar retailers could potentially infringe copyright, and used Stratocaster copies may no longer be lawfully sold in Germany and other countries recognizing such copyright protection.
Together with Berlin IP lawyer and guitar lover GisoSchierenberg, I have tried to take a thorough look into the Duesseldorf judgment. Here are our main takeaways:
- The Duesseldorf default judgment granted Fender copyright protection for the iconic Stratocaster guitar body, finding its asymmetric curves and organic shapes to be sufficiently original works of applied art. This means that the Stratocaster will be copyright protected in Germany since its launch in 1954.
- That said, the judgment must be interpreted with significant caution, as it is a default judgment. Under German procedural law, this means that the court was bound to accept Fender’s uncontested factual submissions and could not consider factual counterarguments.
- Whether the Stratocaster would qualify for copyright protection in fully contested proceedings remains more than open, given that ergonomic, functional, and production-related factors substantially influenced its design criteria which, under the recent rulings like by the CJEU (e.g., Mio and konektra) and the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH e.g., Birkenstock Sandal), can preclude copyright protection for everyday objects.
Please see for detail our German language (academic) article in the leading German IP journal of GRUR – Deutsche Vereinigung für Gewerblichen Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht e.V. (German Language) and our additional shorter English language article on the Wolters Kluwer: IP Law Copyright Blog here: Copyright protection for electric guitars? – The Düsseldorf Regional Court’s Stratocaster ruling | Kluwer Copyright Blog
