r/guitarcirclejerk

I'll keep it brief, then shit myself at the end with walls of text; just kidding the bullet points are shitty enough.

What has Fender done?

Won a default judgement in EU court. Copy right basis not trademark/patent basis.
Sent US / EU / Asia | Pacific guitar builders cease and desist letters.
Been making my life suck ass with their overspray on frets since 2002.

What is the Cease and desist letters?

What is an S type guitars maximum scope?

You can search by S type guitar on reverb or sweetwater and it'll give the maximum scope.
Brand spotlight, Ibanez: RG series, Iron series, S series, AZ series, Gio series, nearly all signature guitars, Lab series and probably more. These are possible "S type" guitars.
Fender owns the following brands, so they will not be impacted: Jackson, EVH, Squier, Fender, Gretsch and Charvel(Edit).

Why are people freaking out?

US has the strat body in public domain. Fighting it as a copyright (art) opens up a sort of protection that could be wide and wildly unfortunate for the industry.
Most people don't consider Fender, even custom shop, to be very good. This market intimidation threatens builders that build Fender alternatives or just better Fenders.
Americans will lose their jobs because of this, small business will go out of business because of this.
This will chill the market, reducing market competition and overall driving quality down.

What is the worst case Scenario?

If the "S type guitar" scope goes wide, it could impact an absurd amount of the guitar market.
Imagine the dumbest people you know getting on a jury, deciding what guitars look like a strat or an 80 year old half blind judge determining which guitars are infringing on "Fender's Copyright".
This hurts small guitar shops who can not afford Fenders buy in. We may see guitar consolidations in stores and smaller stores closing. This would narrow the local variety of guitars you can purchase locally.
Using Copyright protections instead of trademark protections could lead to Gibson followups or "The telecaster body shape is based off a testicular torsion injury leo fender had and it's 100% art", absurdist revisioning.