Gibson Sues DiMarzio over double cream

Rick Lee said:
I think any builder will do a double cream for you. You just have to ask for "aged white" or some BS euphemism and they'll also send it with a plastic cover on it. I've had at least three builders make them for me and one of them was a very big name already mentioned here.
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I believe there's a numbering system for colors too, so when someone trademarks something specific, it's that specific pigment mixture, not just anything that could be labeled "cream" or whatever. I assume this is what Dimarzio has, but never really looked into it.

That's why you can by a red car from anyone, but you can only get Guards Red on a Porsche, for instance. (Speaking of "old" associations! lol)
 
DanTravis62 said:
I'm the opposite - i love the look of the double creams but dimarzios sound like shit
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The brand doesn't have some universal sound. There are a number of them that sound great, just like Duncan has a number of good ones, etc. I have at least a half-dozen pu manufacturers pickups in my various guitar. They all sound good matched with those guitars and those amps......and my playing, I suppose. (Should I mention tonewoods here just to stir the pot a bit!)
 
rstites said:
The brand doesn't have some universal sound. There are a number of them that sound great, just like Duncan has a number of good ones, etc. I have at least a half-dozen pu manufacturers pickups in my various guitar. They all sound good matched with those guitars and those amps......and my playing, I suppose. (Should I mention tonewoods here just to stir the pot a bit!)
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Every dimarzio model I've ever played except maybe 2 have a signature spike in the high mids.
 
Kelly said:
The same way Chrysler can trademark Hemi Orange, and Fender can trademark Lake Placid Blue. Coca Cola has a trademark on their bottle shape, and McDonalds has a trademark on the big yellow M.
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Oh really….😏

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Luca79 said:
"Registration for the Mark for use
with electric guitar sound pickups with “the distinctive shade of cream” claimed as a feature of the mark. As a musician, Petitioner owns and regularly purchases electric guitars and guitar parts, including pickups. Petitioner has a particular aesthetic for his
guitars which necessitates that certain of his electric guitar pickups consist of only the color
cream so that the pickups will not standout, or otherwise visually distract, from the rest of his
guitar components. Thus, the color cream is essential to the use or purpose of the pickups".

:ROFLMAO:
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Duncan makes creme pickups. DiMarzio's trademark is on the use of 2 creme bobbins.
 
If Dimarzio and Gibson pickups evaporated off the face of the earth, I would feel basically no impact. I would have to find a replacement for the FS-1 in the neck of my Charvel, which would be pretty fucking easy, as I only bought it because it was the cheapest single coil from a "legit brand". It does sound quite good for how much I use a neck pickup, but that ain't much.
 
VonBonfire said:
Seems a little drastic. In that situation what pickups am I suppose to use to make my tan pants flap?
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Something more booteek

That being said, lmao imagine changing pickups in the PRS Private Stock 40th anniversary 10 Top McCarty Dragon Limited Edition in Burnt Chestnut, won’t someone think of the resale value?!?
 
paulyc said:
Duncan will only sell it to you with a cover on it, and then only from the custom shop.
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I could not bear the $26 shipping charge from CA to AZ for a single pickup from them. I mean a USPS small flat rate box is less than half that price. They told me they couldn't do anything about that, but that I could order through Sweetwater and get their free shipping. So that's what I did.
 
Not anymore, no more loop holes as of a few months ago. Suhr or Duncan wont go near any double cream pickups. Sucks
 
Gibson has been selling some les pauls with double cream pickups, maybe pushing the buttons before court on purpose. . I think they called them double trouble or something. Most manufacturers will sell them, with covers on if you special order. Dimarzio also patented the word PAF. Fuck Larry, I really hope he loses. The only reason PAF or double creams were even known to be desirable is because of later 59 les pauls. And I havent had many dimarzio pickups ive ever liked. I dont own any now.
 
Aw Gibson, you don't like that somebody besides you has a patent on something generic that they have absolutely no business having, and it's stopping you from making something you want to make? Lol get fucked, overly litigious hypocrite douches.

Signed,
Everybody who has ever made a better Explorer or Les Paul than you but had to change the body style to something worse looking due to Gibson's lawsuits (so basically everybody)


To be serious though, trying to declare ownership of a color, like just a particular piece of the visible light spectrum, and not even some wacky or super unique color but effectively just “off white” as some sacrosanct thing only you can use is insane. Doubly so because most other things you can buy within the realm of guitar hardware are also usually offered in the same kind of cream, off-white color. Honestly anybody who goes along with Dimarzio’s anti-competitive “we own the color white with just a bit of yellow in it” nonsense should be hauled off in straight jackets.
 
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I don’t know why pickup manufacturers don’t just call cream yellow parchment or some other name and just make them? Who determines what color “cream” is? Call it vanilla shake.
 
GearGasms said:
Gibson could just call theirs Double Cream Pie and be done with all of the madness.
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Gibson currently sells cream 57 Classics and Dirty Fingers as Classic Double White.

They started with the 57 Classic last year, when they first filed this suit. Dimarzio responded by launching the PAF 57 with a little shot in the product blurb: "DiMarzio doesn’t answer to a board of directors. We answer to a higher power: musicians."

I don't generally support Gibson's litigious practices but in this case I do, because their victory would be a net positive for consumers.
 
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