Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

[YHWH]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

... I'm surprised this discussion has remained a reasonably intelligent one... thusfar... and w/o the typical flaming and troll-dumb usually found in multiple page threads. Props to the OP.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

There are plenty of pickups made violating that trademark.

I have seen small winders complain about all kind of legal threats from DiMarzio (and never from anybody else), but for some reason the double creme issue doesn't get used there.

A possible explanation is that DiMarzio knows that they won't win if it comes hard to hard.

 

[Brow]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

I've been told by a few UK based pickup winders that the Double Creme Trademark has no bearing outside of the US, so (depending on what tone you're after obviously) you could buy from a company based outside of the US and it's fine

 

[YHWH]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

... I say Duncan should make a dual-bobbin pup w/ a slightly lighter "cream" hue... patent the color and call it 'Creem-ohra'.... hmmm ... no wait... that's a commercial product already. Hmmm. How about 'Mochamixx? Oops.. that's also a product. Okay then... how about just calling it "Kewl-wipped white"!

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

No one's mentioned bobbin toppers. They're not perfect, but for someone with a cheap black A2Pro lying around or available, a couple of bobbin toppers can make it double cream for a couple of dollars.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

You know what the worst part about this is?

That DiMarzio's cream often comes out greenish and can look really goofy if there is real cream (such as pickup rings) around for contrast. Luckily that doesn't affect too many of their pickups but it just adds some icing to the cake in the face.

 

[B2D]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

No one's mentioned bobbin toppers. They're not perfect, but for someone with a cheap black A2Pro lying around or available, a couple of bobbin toppers can make it double cream for a couple of dollars.

I'm gonna use those on whatever duncans I end up settling on in my Music Man to get both pickups the same color.

 

[Grandturk]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

You know what the worst part about this is?

That DiMarzio's cream often comes out greenish and can look really goofy if there is real cream (such as pickup rings) around for contrast. Luckily that doesn't affect too many of their pickups but it just adds some icing to the cake in the face.

:boggled: I don't know about that. Mine look pretty much like cream:

 

[ginormous]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

... and Danelectro was putting lipstick pups on their guitars since the late '50s early '60s... before them it was Sears/Silvertone.

Dano was making Silvertones for Sears as a private label brand.

DM double creams = "trade dress". A distinctive method of determining one brand from another. It could have been Gibson's (or anyone else's, for that matter) free and clear, but nobody applied for it. First one with the gov't paperwork wins, in the eyes of the law. Yeah, it sux. We're grownups, though, so we can deal with it.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

:boggled: I don't know about that. Mine look pretty much like cream:

I also had real cream DiMarzio's. But I had others that were greenish. I might still have a photo of it. The plastic they use just isn't consistent.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

You don't like the pickup? Don't buy it. For me, I like Dimarzio pickups (as I said before, I like Duncans, EMGs, Fralins, etc, etc, etc). But right now, Dimarzio gets my money.

Thanks for weighing in with your pertinent opinion on Dimarzios discussed on the Dimarzio......oops I mean Seymour Duncan forum.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

I saw a double creme JB on ebay about 3 weeks ago...

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

We're grownups, though, so we can deal with it.

Speak for yourself, lol.

:naughty:

 

[YHWH]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

Dano was making Silvertones for Sears as a private label brand.

... Thanks for that info, dude... :friday:


... another one of my stupid suggestions... instead of using cream-colored bobbins and violating DMZ's "trademark", why doesn't Duncan just make a cream-colored *solid cover* pup like their active pickups have, only perhaps have the rows of six screw/slug polepieces showing like those EMG Hz pups do. That'd be an interesting looking pickup... and the solid plastic cover would still be "cream" colored. Oooh... better yet... mold and form a solid cover to mimic a dual set of bobbins... just so that from the outside it LOOKS like dual bobbins... but it'd actually be one solid, molded cream covering!!

Sound like a decent idea? Well, Duncan better hurry and latch on to it before DMZ gets hold of that idea and legally smashes it ... :smash: Oh... and just remember to send me a working prototype of the pup if you decide to use it. IM me for my mailing address and shipping instructions.... j/k. :headbang:

 

[Grandturk]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

Thanks for weighing in with your pertinent opinion on Dimarzios discussed on the Dimarzio......oops I mean Seymour Duncan forum.

Well, it is "All Pickups. All the Time." So...

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

Seems to me that Seymour Duncan or Gibson could hire a bunch lawyers and take DMZ to court and possibly win--if they wanted to. I can think of several arguments that I would use against DMZ in a trademark trial. So why don't they? Do they not have the $$$ to pursue such a suit? (I'm sure they do.)

Or is it simply not worth the pursuit? As long as Duncan has their work-around (keeping the cream bobbins onder cover), do lthey really care about something so trivial? Maybe they are just content to let Larry have his little victory and move on. And maybe Larry and Seymour are competitors, but also good friends; and that could have more to do with not filing suit than anything else.

Personally, I don't care one way or the other. I don't think for one nano-second that DMZ is wrong or unethical in trademarking the double cream. Seems to have been a smart business decision. If you think it is unethical and don't like the company--don't buy their products. They'll go out of business, and other companies will be free to use the double creams.

Boycott DiMarzio. Start a class-action suit. MAKE Seymour CARE about his customers' "needs." Your options are limited.

Frankly, I have other issues in my life that I would rather focus my passions on.

Bill

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

Its a trademark, not a patent.

Right.

Back in the day, if you had double creams, you had Dimarzio pickups. The image of an all cream humbucker was synonymous with the Dimarzio brand. They trademarked that symbol as the symbol of Dimarzio.

Wrong. I know a guy who had a '50's burst LP, and when he took the covers off in the mid-70's, there were double-cream PAFs underneath. I think the existence of such PAFs over 15 years before Dimarzio came along may be the key to un-doing Larry's ridiculous trademark, but no one has sufficient money, time, and interest to see it through.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

This issue is hardly worth this thread, much less the legal fees to try and combat it.

I bet the amount of double creme pups sold by both Duncan and DiMarzio is a fraction of total sales.

 

[Grandturk]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

Wrong. I know a guy who had a '50's burst LP, and when he took the covers off in the mid-70's, there were double-cream PAFs underneath. I think the existence of such PAFs over 15 years before Dimarzio came along may be the key to un-doing Larry's ridiculous trademark, but no has sufficient money, time, and interest to see it through.

Yeah, we know. Its common knowledge that Gibson did produce them in the 50's when they ran out of black bobbins. That's not the point.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Really, is there ANYTHING that can be done about Dimarzio's double creme patent?

Wrong. I know a guy who had a '50's burst LP, and when he took the covers off in the mid-70's, there were double-cream PAFs underneath. I think the existence of such PAFs over 15 years before Dimarzio came along may be the key to un-doing Larry's ridiculous trademark, but no has sufficient money, time, and interest to see it through.

I'm no lawyer but I don't believe that prior art can invalidate a trademark the way that it can with a patent.