[buddroyce]

I know it's a highly contested topic of debate as it's something non-DiMarzio users typically have against the company but apparently DiMarzio had a 4 year legal battle over the trademark double cream humbucker design and won!

While I personally do sometimes wish I could get a double cream humbucker from another company, as a business owner in the world of entertainment, I'm very happy for Larry DiMarzio and DiMarzio Inc. in general for successfully defending their Intellectual Property.

Here's the press release if you haven't seen it:

https://d2emr0qhzqfj88.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/2021-05/DiMarzio_DoubleCreamTrademark_0.pdf

[darkbluemurder]

Thanks Budd for posting this.

Even though it is not a court verdict it still poses a victory for DiMarzio as nobody in his/her right mind would retreat from a lawsuit unless one came to the conclusion that chances of success are not good.

Cheers Stephan

[mmmguitar]

Nice patent trolling, Larry.

[darkbluemurder]

Patent = intellectual property right for a technical invention
Trademark = intellectual property right for a recognizable sign, design or expression

Double cream is a trademark, not a patent. 

[mmmguitar]

I was being flippant/facetious, and “patent troll” gets thrown around often where it doesn’t apply.

[buddroyce]

I'm not too sure if Patent Troll is fully applicable here. It would make sense if DiMarzio was trying to sue companies for an aged double white humbucker claiming a trademark/patent infringement but in this case, it's the other way around with someone else trolling DiMarzio.

I know that running this forum, I probably sound a bit biased but having done the whole legal trademark thing myself for one of my businesses, it is sadly one of the necessary evils of business in the modern world. Although I do understand that it does suck for everyone looking to get a double cream humbucker as it's not just as easy as just selecting it as an option, I honestly think it was a business great move by Larry DiMarzio to trademark the double cream humbucker the same way Pepto-Bismol trademarked their famous pink drink.

[5150]

Isn't the trademark only in the US or something?

[buddroyce]

I'm not too sure but I do believe I've seen some pickup winders sell them. God knows you can easily get them from China cause they have no problem ripping off companies there.

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Isn't the trademark only in the US or something?

BKP has no issues doing double cream, so apparently it's either only US or too difficult to enforce elsewhere.

[buddroyce]

BKP has no issues doing double cream, so apparently it's either only US or too difficult to enforce elsewhere.

I guess the trademark is US only then. I doubt the folks at BKP would want to deal with the potential legal issues if the trademark extended over there.

[Guitar74]

Looking back at the ads from when DiMarzio was a fledgling company, it is more than apparent that the double cream wasn't just a color choice, but more of a way to identify a DiMarzio pickup from everything else at the time. I get why Larry trademarked double cream. It was brand recognition. Although there are a myriad of choices out there, I still identify double rows of allen screws and a double cream bobbin finish as "DiMarzio". I think all of the whiners that I see might want to do a little research before spewing the garbage I have read in favor of the "internet slagging" about something that, especially at the time that DiMarzio first went to market, was one of the main identifiers of their product. The fact that it seems that every so often some "patent lawyer" wants to challenge this as their "I'm gonna stick it to the man at $200/hr (never mind that people like this are also "the man")" hill to die on speaks volumes about litigation in this country.

[Audiowonderland]

While Dimarzio may in fact have legal standing on this based on the law, the principle on which it is built is questionable. The double row of hex heads has technical merit and was truly a unique aspect of their design. Granting privilege to a color on the other hand, not so much. Are we going to let people trademark smells to? Its a slippery slope to say the least

[buddroyce]

While Dimarzio may in fact have legal standing on this based on the law, the principle on which it is built is questionable. The double row of hex heads has technical merit and was truly a unique aspect of their design. Granting privilege to a color on the other hand, not so much. Are we going to let people trademark smells to? Its a slippery slope to say the least

Design patents and trademarks are a strange world. As for trademarking smells, yes it's actually possible. Been possible since the mid-90's I believe. It's not exactly easy but it's doable.