huh? sorry been out all nite drinkin-from what i have read on the web(always subject to ridicule)
the sunno))) logo was not in use when the band gott together so-i guess they just went w/ it and waited for the slings and arrows legal and otherwise to appear...and they never did. go figure
It makes no difference if Sunn the company was not manufacturing amps or equipment when Sunn the band started, the Logo and the rights to that belonged to an owner. When Hartzel Corp went out of business the assets of the company were turned over to whom ever was in charge of handling the disbursment of the Corps. finances and physicak materials. Fender bought Sunn...which includes all rights to patents, designs, logos, trademarks, etc. i can't figure out how the band can use the logo. Guess I'll write Fender to find out.
I would imagine that they
could be forced to stop, as you post
somebody owned the rights to the trademark. I think the point is, why waste the money and human resources pursuing them?
You know the old saying; “You can’t get blood out of a stone”?
I think it applies here. Their art form is so fringe, and their revenue likely so insignificant that I doubt Fender could even recoup their legal fees to sue them, and so obscure that any negative overall effect that they have on the brand is negligible at best.
Couple that with the fact that Fender isn’t even
using the Sunn name presently, and I would think the attitude at FMIC is “Who cares?”.
I’d also imagine that if the artist(s) who appropriated the name ever were to achieve any
success, it would be a different story.
If there was any money to be had, or even if the artist’s influence reached a point where a measurable percentage of musicians (read; “potential Fender customers”) would identify the artist’s trademark infringement directly to FMIC, I’ll betcha Fender’s attorneys would be on them like a duck on a June bug.
I asked a Fender AR guy about it at a NAMM show a couple of years ago and his answer was “Who?”. I tried to explain it and he said “Really? There’s a group out there calling themselves Sunn, spelled S-U-N-
N? Hmmm… I wonder if legal knows about that.”
That was in ’07 or ’08, be sure to post what Fender responds to your inquiry now, Rob. I’m sure many forum members would be interested in what they say. Wouldn’t it be funny if they actually had FMIC’s
permission to use the trademark, and even funnier if they were paying to do so?
