Evolving Intellectual Property Standards

Don, I hope you don't lose that shot, it is really beautiful

I could add half a dozen more similar (besides Gibson own line of 333, 335, 345, ...) but it is pointless. Word is "we ain't talking 'bout it". For now. I am waiting for now to pass.

I wonder if photo realistic 3D renders are exempt?

^ that's a great question.

Ah. But perhaps, even if I won't get a reply to my questions, there is some point in adding information on the subject, such as illustrating the abundance of unsuppressed derivatives of supposedly trademark-protected body designs.

I certainly don't envy these people at HQ who continually have to sort out property and trademark issues.Must be a nightmare going through the collection.Upgrading the standard and informing our inspectors.


Lots of work going on behind the scenes to protect us.Thanks.

If they are realistic models of the actual products being discussed then they would be subject to the same rules as photographs. It's just like I couldn't make a 3D "iPhone" and upload it here.  


Totally original designs by the 3d artist would be fine.  But, to avoid confusion, I would suggest adding a PR or note to the inspector stating that the design is totally original.

Search results still provide 278 hits for a certain brand guitar (of which I recently had several photos deactivated).


Will this be taken care of soon in order to prevent an unfair edge for those who still have photos of unsaid brand?

iStock is obviously willing to accept some risk when it comes to this sort of thing, I'm surprised you guys aren't willing to have a little more backbone in this case.

The manufacturer has the right to blow through the annual legal fees budget suing anyone and everyone as part of their everday efforts to protect their brand, but you guys also have the right to call their bluff and observe that they lost this battle a long time ago; the shape and colour of these japaneese knockoffs is synonymous with "guitar" not "fender"... the brand control is gone, the design is generic, the IP claim is sophistry.

Surely there's some kind of elegant legal stalemate that you could reach here without just backing down and running for the hills.  There's going to be no collection left at all in 10 years if you decied to back down from all these fights.

Anyway, hard to comment without knowing all the details; maybe the guns they levelled at iStock were bigger than I make it sound, or maybe a big client was involved.  Just wish Getty had its own big guns, that's all.

I've just had a hand made guitar image deactivated. It was accepted with a property release and images of the guitar being made. I made it myself and took some snaps during the build.


It's now been deactivated with the message "Most guitar manufacturers own the trademark to their guitar designs (body and headstock). We cannot accept imagery where the guitar is the main focus and have therefore deactivated your image from the collection"


I've sent an email to support but I though hand made custom guitars were OK? It's not a copy but does have "inspired by" elements, afterall a guitar looks like a guitar! I made sure it was not an exact copy of anything.

It sounds like you have a good reason to contact Contributor Relations to have that file re-reviewed. Open a ticket and let them know the dealio.

If it's the file that was just deactivated I have to point out the body is pretty close if not identical to a Gibson SG.

Well it may look similar but it's not a copy. The dimentions of the shape and the cutaway curves are different. I could go on... in a nutshell it's not a copy but is "inspired by" I did mention this in the inspector note. It was good enough for it to pass the inspection. I guess we need to determine how "inspired by" we can go, I'll see what the outcome is with a re-review and in the meantime maybe alter the shape a bit more.


I actually haven't fully finished it yet so it's not too much of a problem.

Make it look like an accordian.

Seriously though, don't play games with the accordion makers. They'll mess you up.