Gibson takes legal action against Donald Trump-endorsed guitars
Following Donald Trump’s election win, as he prepares to head back to The White House, he has started rolling out plenty of official and unofficial Donald Trump merchandise. Wasting no time capitalising on his win, the newly appointed president-elect has endorsed a new line of Trump guitars. Due to their similar design, the product has been hit with a cease and desist from the famous guitar brand Gibson.
Trump initially endorsed the new line of Trump guitars after posting a picture of himself holding one of the models on his social media platform, Truth Social. The brand is clearly very proud of its endorsement from the president-elect, as it uses his image repeatedly on its website and refers to itself as “The only guitar officially endorsed by President Donald J Trump.”
Trump even signed a select number of guitars, which brought their price up to a huge $11,500. The guitar neck also brandishes messages that were delivered by the Trump presidential campaign, such as “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
It doesn’t appear that the company is officially owned by Donald Trump. Despite the fact that his image is used frequently to sell the guitars and the direct links that can be made between the guitars’ branding and Trump’s presidential campaigns, the company’s website states that it is owned by a parent company called 16 Creative.
After the line of guitars was released, a number of guitar players and enthusiasts came forward, highlighting how strong the resemblance between Trump guitars and Gibson guitars was, particularly the much-loved and iconic Les Paul design. The shape of the body is almost identical, and it seems that Gibson agrees, as they recently sent brand 16 Creative a cease and desist.
“We can confirm a cease and desist has been issued against 16 Creative,” representatives on behalf of Gibson said in an interview with Guitar World, “The design infringes upon Gibson’s exclusive trademarks, particularly the iconic Les Paul body shape.”
There has yet to be any response from Trump Guitars, which means it’s difficult to gauge whether they will cease and desist with their new guitars. It will be tempting for the company to continue selling its guitars as it has the President-Elect’s endorsement and is making a lot of money off the designs. It seems they are still accepting orders and pre-orders for their guitars.
It’s not out of character for Gibson to try and defend its intellectual property. In previous years, they have issued lawsuits against the brand Dean because of their body and headstock designs. This case is still ongoing, and its outcome will likely influence how the current claim against Trump Guitar progresses.
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