Fender Targets the PRS Silver Sky

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:02][music] Truly, this is the video I did not want to have to [music] make. I was hoping it didn't come to this, but Fender, according to PRS, has involved PRS [music] in their cease and desist quest that we've been all talking about on the internet here in the guitar to YouTube [music] space. And now we find out that PRS and the silver sky in various forms is actually a target of Fender's legal excursions, [music] shall we call them. I fear or I predict that the PRS involvement in this now, not [music] by their choice of course, is going to be sort of like the cornerstone turning point thing we look at. What we also found out this week is we got Fender's response to this cuz they had been silent since this all kind of hit the street. And then we also got a leak, which I haven't seen in full. I don't know that anybody has yet. Maybe you will by the time you see this, but we saw a leak of a response from one of the attorneys representing a small builder who got one of these cease and desist letters. And it just so happens that attorney Ronald Bintock, I believe his name is, was involved in the Fender 2009 case in the United States that essentially solidified the fact that the Strat body, I'm not holding a Strat, but the Strat body was public domain or generic, too generic to trademark. So, I want to talk about these three things. I want to talk about first what Fender's initial response was. They wanted to calm some of our panic. You know, I'll include myself in that. I suppose that Fender was not going after, I'm referencing some notes here, all double cutaway guitars. Okay, they said they're they're not going after, you know, two horn double cutaway guitars in general.

[00:01:46]They're going after the third party guitars that share the same layout and are, you know, an exact clone or copy.

[00:01:54]Okay. So, when I heard that, I said, "All right, we'll see how this plays out legally outside of the United States of America." of course because of that 2009 judgment. But what it sounded like to me up until today was that they were going after those guitars which you and I both know are exact hobbies of Strat, not this one though, cuz this body shape is actually different. But the ones that have the exact same body shape, size, dimensions, layout, everything, just with a different headstock. Telly's fall into this as well. There's tons of them out there that fall into that category.

[00:02:24]And while I don't necessarily agree that you can go after those with regard to the silver sky, according to this statement that I read, I thought, hey, this is probably safe because it's very different. Now, I said in a previous video, when you're not holding them side by side, you probably forget.

[00:02:44]I even forget playing this guitar as often as I do. But when you look at the Strat body versus this body, it the the contours are different, the shape is different, the size is different, the angles are different, everything is different about it. Yes, it's very inspired by the Fender Strat, but it's not an exact clone. So, I find it interesting, and again, not a lawyer, so, you know, if anybody is out there, please, you know, dial up the comments section and let me know what you think.

[00:03:10]But I don't know how this reconciles with what Fender's clarification was, which is that they are only going after exact clones. I would argue that the Silver Sky is not an exact clone. It is, however, a guitar that has taken up a lot of market share for Strat style guitars just in general. It's very popular in its SE form, as well as the USA Marylandade model that I'm holding here. So, read into that what you will.

[00:03:37]I'm not here to say that there may be a motivation such as that. I'm not here to say that the artist's name who is on this guitar who also used to be with Fender is, you know, inspiring some jealousy potentially at Fender. I'm not saying that. Maybe you are. I'm not saying that. I think you picking up what I'm laying down here. So let's continue talking about Fender's response though in that they were saying yeah you we all heard about like they were requesting that inventory be destroyed designs get changed or else essentially you know to all these builders who got the cease and desist letters. They also clarified and they said they they're not mandating that you destroy your inventory. We just had to put that in there as a last resort. We're working together with the brands to, you know, assure innovation and find a amicable resolution to this essentially, which hey, you know what?

[00:04:29]I'm going to take them at their word on that. That sounds great. I don't know how that's going to play out though. So, the other thing that came out was I mentioned this Ronald Bintock. I hope I'm saying his name right. He is the attorney who one of the attorneys I presume that was involved in the 2009 Fender loss when they, you know, lost the the trademark battle for the Stratshaped bodies. He came out with a response which I thought was very interesting. It's got to be fun to be a lawyer and really be a smart one. I mean, on both sides because like you you're just jockeying for position and you're you're you're playing all these word games and you're just poking holes in each other's arguments. like it's it's the reason I spent one week in law school in 2009. I didn't make it. I dropped out because I knew that it wasn't for me. But, you know, at least I have I I have that feather in my cap, which as I said before is worth absolutely nothing in the legal world.

[00:05:21]But he does point out a few things. You know, the judgment that this is all being based on in a German court was a default judgment against a Chinese builder of Strat copies. And a default judgment, you know, just means, hey, we only heard one side of the story. or the other people didn't show up and just by default you win. So he calls into question the strength of Fender's position in that case. So you know one thing he says is that they're weaponizing the the judgment in Germany which is essentially like they're trying to extend that throughout the world.

[00:05:56]Let's see. And then it's going too far.

[00:05:58]The reach of is too far. So here's a little quote. A default judgment obtained in Germany carries no binding legal precedent or authority over independent manufacturing, marketing, marketing, and sales operations within the United States. Key because PRS is within the United States. Yes, they make guitars overseas, but they're based here in the United States of America. Your client cannot weaponize, meaning Fender, cannot weaponize an uncontested European ruling to retroactively establish sweeping global trade dress or copyright protections that do not exist under US law. Interesting. He also brings up his own victory in 2009. So he says it's already been definitive definitively litigated determining that the two-dimensional physical outline of the Strat body shape is generic. Decades of robust unchecked industry utilization by hundreds of custom uh and boutique boutique builders further solidifies that this aesthetic is firmly in the public domain within the US market. Also interesting, he does point out a blunder that Fender made in their filing where they accidentally used pictures of their own guitars, which they were I think they're insinuating were copies, but it was actually their own. So, it's sort of like eating away at their argument that this is so unique, but they couldn't even tell the difference between a copy and their own guitar. So, it's it was kind of a fun moment. One of those probably very fun mic drop lawyer moments. There's many other things he points out in this letter. Again, I've only seen excerpts of it, but this is it's just really interesting. I am very curious to see where this is going to go. It seems, I'm sure by the tone of me speaking here that I'm taking sides. I'm not taking sides. I do love my PRS Silver Sky. Huge fan of John Mayer as you all probably know, but I have a telly and I think it's great. I have a Strat that is one of my absolute favorite guitars. The Strat is the first guitar that really spoke to me. I'm I still don't have my dream guitar. dream guitar is the guitar that Rivers Cuomo from Weezer was playing in the Buddy Holly video, which is a Sunburst Strat.

[00:07:51]I still haven't owned one of those. I will someday in some way, shape, or form. So, I love Fender. I have a Deluxe Reverb that you heard me playing through today, but it's just seeming nonsensical at this point. And it seems I I have to believe there's a strategy here from Fender because it just it there's a lot of things that don't make sense to me, you know, namely the statement they put out versus the fact that they sent PRS a cease and desist letter. One of those things can they can't both exist based on what Fender said. So, there's got to be some type of of strategy here. I'm not going to claim to be able to figure that out cuz I'm not smart enough and I don't know enough about the industry. I just play the guitar. But it it just as the layman observer of this, it is very confusing to me. PRS is a big one. I really didn't think that they would get dragged into this or I was hoping they wouldn't. And I I was especially hopeful after I heard what Fender said about only going after the exact clones, but this is not a clone. That is my opinion.

[00:08:47]It is super inspired by a Strat, of course, but I don't know how it's enforceable. I don't know what the goal is. Certainly, the PR battle is not going in Fender's favor right now. I've seen more than one post cuz you got to remember the Silver Sky when this came out. This was not adopted without resistance. Okay, [snorts] you had a lot of people that were detractors of this guitar. And I've seen what I can only assume are people who were big Strat proponents back in 2017 and 18 when this came out saying, you know, I bet this guitar is good, isn't it? You know, almost to stick it to Fender. It's interesting how the tides change and shift. But yeah, so let me know what you think. The last thing, of course, that we need is another Fender lawsuit video, but I had to do it. The last thing we need is more lawyers. And I will say there's that, you probably think the same thing. The last thing we need is more guitar YouTubers. But if you happen to want to become a YouTuber and you've watched this far, I think I can plug my link at this point. Check out the link below. I have master classes and crash courses on how to do this, how to work with brands, how to become a YouTuber if you are a musician, and monetize those skills that you have. So check it out if you're interested. If not, totally cool.

[00:09:56]I'll see you in the next one. And like I said in the last video, I really hope I'm not making another lawsuit video. At least not the Fender lawsuit video again and again and again. But if I do, I'll see you in that for the next video I put