Final Shape

Who owns the shape of a guitar?
A German court has just ruled that the Stratocaster body is a protected creative work, and Fender is now sending cease and desist letters to S-style builders across Europe and the US.
We’ve spent years working with the independent makers this affects, including a day filming on the floor at LSL Instruments in Los Angeles. So we wrote about what the ruling actually says, where it stops, and why it matters for anyone who builds, sells, or collects these instruments.
There’s also a Copenhagen footnote we couldn’t resist: how Carlsberg gave away its greatest discovery instead of patenting it, and what that has to do with a guitar.
Full piece here: https://www.vintageandrare.com/blog/when-a-shape-becomes-a-battleground-fender-the-s-style-and-what-it-means-for-the-builders-we-love/