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Rickenfaker 4005 build diary


EBS_freak
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[quote name='malbass' post='1026833' date='Nov 17 2010, 01:12 PM']Good question, I was wondering that myself. The cynic in me thought that perhaps someone from Rickenbacker had noticed the thread and had a word? From what I hear they're a bit hot on counterfeits, would this count as such?[/quote]

Possibly! Was quite an interesting thread... while it lasted!

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Rickenbacker International Corp, despite the important-sounding name is just a small, family-run American business and they do not have the legal right, reach or cash to touch anyone outside the US. Rick copies get pulled off Ebay because Ebay's a US company & happens to be based just down the road from RIC in California.

You'll notice lots of Rick copies are currently manufactured and available - Rockinbetter, Shine, Indie, Anniversary etc can all be bought easily in the UK. The retailers, distributors, importers & manufacturers market these things openly - I doubt John Hall's particularly pleased about it but there's not a whole lot he can do. So I don't think he's likely to be too bothered by a little UK bass forum.

The issue isn't really copies (or counterfeits, which are not the same thing at all), it's trademark protection. In the US, it's a requirement of law that a trademark owner (and all of RIC's designs are registered trademarks) has to take action against infringements to maintain ownership of the TM. If they don't, the mark enters the public domain & anyone can use it - which is precisely what happened to Fender & Gibson's body shape designs in the 70s. This is US-specific legislation meaning copies available in the rest of the world don't affect the US trademark ownership.

None of this explains what happened to the build thread, though...

Jon.

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This is weird. That's one of the most interesting threads I've seen on BC for some time, especially given that I used to own the original faker!

Please Mods, bring it back or explain the issue!

Just thought, did the luthier take exception to being mentioned on the forum? Watton mentioned a few had said "that's illegal" when he'd asked for someone to take the project on and I had to say my eye brown raised a bit when he posted a link to the luthier who'd do it knowing what nut job detective types Rickenbacker are.

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