Trying to sell a RG on ebay - forget it.

Howdy Greco Fanatics,

Just had a entertaining time trying to sell a RG550 on ebay. The add pulled by a company starting with 'R' twice in a row. Even with that companies name not mentioned.

Read below a email from the 'R' legal dept.... for anyone considering doing the same.

'The shape of the headstock, body, nameplate, and certain other elements of
Rickenbacker instruments have achieved trademark status in all major world
jurisdictions through registration and other provisions of trademark law,
such as the Lanham Act in the United States.

Due to the burden placed on us by United States case law and the significant
investment we've made in these marks for more than seven decades, we must
strongly enforce proper usage of our marques and cannot permit their use
without permission or on non-Rickenbacker products. Removing mention of
"Rickenbacker" or any creative variation thereof is NOT sufficient to
reinstate your auction.

Why do we police our trademarks agressively while some other instrument makers
often do not? Unfortunately, due to the lack of action on their part in the
past, their trademarks may be invalid or unenforceable. Be assured that they
would also take action if they could. No maker considers infringing items to
be a tribute or form of flattery.

blah blah blah.

Anyways for the person that bidded - it's still for sale.

http://www.grecoed.com/RG550.html

Cheers,

Hugh

so basically they are saying it's illegal to sell it? that company is out of control,better watch out, the secret "R" police might show up at your door with a hacksaw...

Are they still doing that?

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=65771#65771

I thought they would've grown up by now.

Yeah I also got a very personalised one as well from Mr. Hall..... it's going on the wall for sure amongst my 'run in with the law' collection.

I really can't see Rickenbacker 'losing' their trademark over the selling of copy guitars on ebay, more so I actually see this trade increasing their brands exposure to the market as I'm sure most people that would see the RG would eventually do a bit of research on the guitar it was based on (I think it was called a 483) which is interesting in itself as it was only built for three or so years I believe.

Dear Sir,

I?ve not seen your instrument but it was likely deleted due to the
infringing shape of the head, body, pickup configuration, or truss rod
cover. All of these elements are covered by trademarks.

It doesn?t matter what you call it or whether you used our name or not.

It's not a matter of being fair- it's the law and if we don't act, we lose
the trademarks. That's not going to happen.


Regards,


J* C. H*
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

this issue with RIC & RIC CEO John Hall have been addressed here before; it's an issue of 'trade dress' law ..........................

RIC will always win, sorry ................

Grecoed said:

Yeah I also got a very personalised one as well from Mr. Hall..... it's going on the wall for sure amongst my 'run in with the law' collection.

I really can't see Rickenbacker 'losing' their trademark over the selling of copy guitars on ebay, more so I actually see this trade increasing their brands exposure to the market as I'm sure most people that would see the RG would eventually do a bit of research on the guitar it was based on (I think it was called a 483) which is interesting in itself as it was only built for three or so years I believe.

Dear Sir,

I?ve not seen your instrument but it was likely deleted due to the
infringing shape of the head, body, pickup configuration, or truss rod
cover. All of these elements are covered by trademarks.

It doesn?t matter what you call it or whether you used our name or not.

It's not a matter of being fair- it's the law and if we don't act, we lose
the trademarks. That's not going to happen.


Regards,


J* C. H*
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Click to expand...

?

Rickenbacker is a shitcompany.
They are treating their customers as well with this **** attitude.

Probably they tried to take action against the Japanese makers and lost so now they go for second base....

I am more than hay now that I got rid of my Rick-collection and swore to never by one of their **** guitars/basses again.

Cause that is what Rick is, it is low-quality **** instruments.

MIJvintage said:

this issue with RIC & RIC CEO John Hall have been addressed here before; it's an issue of 'trade dress' law ..........................

RIC will always win, sorry ................

Click to expand...

Not if more of us vote Pirate Parti!!
And they are going to the EU!!!

I am tired of living in corporative fascism!!

Vote PP

In the US, if you do not take action to protect your trademarks, the courts may decide during a relevant trial that it's obviously not important to you and strip the trademark protection.

That's why you get the silly suits like Tiger Direct suing for an injunction against Apple selling Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger", the day before it was due to go on sale. They knew it was BS, and so waited till the 11th hour so that an injunction couldn't happen, but that they still appeared to take efforts to protect their trademark of "Tiger".

Rickenbacker has to pay their law firm/staff lawyer for every one of these silly take down notices. They lose money at it, but they've obviously been advised to do it (by the same lawyers who get paid to issue the notices, probably...). Gibson & Fender have presumably received different legal advice since they don't do this (to my knowledge).

(I'm not a Rickenbacker shill, just trying to provide an explanation as I understand things. I agree that's it's annoying.)

For the price of that copy, you could find a real used Rick. :wink:

cashcow said:

For the price of that copy, you could find a real used Rick. :wink:

Click to expand...

For the price of a penny black you could but 1000's of new stamps

Hmmmm not sure sure about finding a original Rick for that price Cashcow - and even if you did it wouldn't be a Greco.

John Hall is a c**k sucker.. no other way to say it..

Rickenbacker can also suck my big fat wang.. I've got a ric 4003 and had a 360.. selling them all, the company and its fan boys make me sick.

Add to that we don't have a distributor in Australia (we did until about 2-3 years ago), Ric won't support or supply parts to Australians and will blatantly ignore their requests..

Also, things like telling Hipshot to stop producing their replacement bridge (which looks NOTHING like the original) and not allowing companies to make replacement pickups that look proper (I'm sorry, its MY ric.. not John Hall's and if I want to modify I should be able to)

F**k Ric..

Seriously cool collection of Greco RGs Innadaze - awesome.

Grecoed said:

Seriously cool collection of Greco RGs Innadaze - awesome.

Click to expand...

I was watching your auction on ebay.. sucks man, its a nice guitar.. but the second those go up you see them mentioned on the Ric forums.. such a bunch of arse licking sycophants 'john hall, mr. hall.. lookie what I found.. mr. hall tell me I'm gooood'..

I'll say it sucks, within 18 hours of being put up it had a bid, but alas the guy never followed up through www.grecoed.com. Anyways I'll enjoy it for a bit longer. It is an entertaining thought what process they have down at Rickenbacker, and who is employed to look through ebay to find these postings.... what a job..... I hope Rickenbacker are paying through the nose for that service.

**** sorry just re-read your post Mow - so you think it's Rickenbacker freaks reporting the ebay add back to Rickenbacker?... that's seriously f**ked up. Send me a link to one of these forums... I'm fascinated.

Grecoed said:

**** sorry just re-read your post Mow - so you think it's Rickenbacker freaks reporting the ebay add back to Rickenbacker?... that's seriously f**ked up. Send me a link to one of these forums... I'm fascinated.

Click to expand...

Its not so much a particular forum, pretty much just anywhere Ric fans congregate, they get real defensive too.. Its a shame, I like their product, but not the way they handle things, very arrogant.. and not very Rock n Roll..

If I ever stumble across a heap of money I think I'll pay Lemmy to play Greco Ric copies exclusively, then just kick back and read the Rickenbacker forums - hours of entertainment.

I haven?t posted on the forum for a few years mainly due to emigrating several years ago, forgetting my password and not having access to my original UK e-mail SP to get a password reset etc, etc? anyway, long story short, I got my password back.

I have just read this thread with a great deal of interest.

I had to leave loads of stuff behind when I emigrated and my Tokai RG43 was left with a friend in the UK.

Since then I have bought a couple of USA made Rickenbackers and in all honesty the Tokai was much more comfortable to play and felt much better balanced and in reality had more of a 60?s Rick sound than the actual Rickenbackers that I now own.

Grecoed said:

**** sorry just re-read your post Mow - so you think it's Rickenbacker freaks reporting the ebay add back to Rickenbacker?... that's seriously f**ked up. Send me a link to one of these forums... I'm fascinated.

Click to expand...

There was mention of the ?official? Rickenbacker forum? Grecoed and Mr Mow, your observations about the board ?informants? and most (not all) of the board users sycophantic ?loyalty? to JH and RIC are spot on. These people are the same as the guy at work who will stab anyone in the back in an attempt to please the boss.
If you make even the slightest remark that could be considered as ?non-corporate line towing" or blasphemous. You will be told in no uncertain terms to get back on the straight and narrow and not take the company name in vain or say things that JH doesn't want to hear? totally pathetic.
Try typing the word "JangleBox" on the forum and it will either be erased or the letters altered... this is because JH thinks that Steve Lasko's superb compressor, now endorsed and used by Roger McGuinn (so a poke in the eye for Rickenbacker), is too expensive in his opinion so you can't speak its name, how puerile is that then?
I find it rather ironic that Rickenbacker spout off about Trademarks? nothing of theirs has a the official "This is a registered Trademark logo" on it and only the TRC has the company name on it so how can they say they are trademarks? Are they actually registered??? who knows, And what is even more two-faced is the fact that the ?R? on the much coveted famous Rickenbacker ?R? tailpiece was ripped off from the Washington Redskins football helmet and that?s a direct quote from a Rickenbacker employee from the 60?s Dick Burke, the man who actually ?borrowed? it... a bit of a case of Pot calling Kettle going on here it seems.

Ever tried buying real Rick spare for a genuine Rick that you own???
Well unless you live in the USA or parts of Canada you have no chance at all.
You can?t even buy from Rick dealers in the US, they are restricted by Rickenbacker to only sell to the US domestic market. Even strings that cost $10 in the states will cost someone living in Aus or NZ $24 through Rickenbacker Asia and there is a shed load of postage to go on top of that price as well (and it's a bit OTT)... IF you can ever contact them that is!
But if you do live in the US and have no interest what so ever in guitars, Rick?s or otherwise but want to make a fat profit for doing exactly nothing, then you ARE allowed to buy genuine Rick spares, pickups, strings etc from Rick?s ?boutique? or from any US approved Rick dealer (at cheap domestic prices) and sell ?em on e-bay or where ever, at whatever mark-up you feel you can make and people like me are forced to buy them if you want real Rick parts!!! As a marketing strategy it sucks big time and as far as I can see all their reason for doing it are just a load of old cobblers.
Check it out... Flea-bay is full of Rick strings, Pups, other spares etc and there are loads of perfectly good Ricks "butchered" for parts to sell, they are apparently worth more in bits... how sad is that then?

Read this post from there?

http://www.rickenbacker.com/forum_v...in the Boutique... But&thread_id=11815&Page=1

Rick?s attitude to this situation (and the attitude of some of the boards self appointed ?Rickenbacker SS?) totally pi**ed me off.

Errr? sorry about this people? I appear to have gone into rant mode overdrive with this one.