discount gibson guitars
Is my fake “Gibson” guitar illegal in the USA?
I recently purchased a “Gibson” guitar while on a business trip in China. I brought it back with me, but have now confirmed it to be a fake.
Is it illegal for me to even own this guitar in the USA? Can I get into legal trouble just by keeping it – even if I didn’t know it was fake when I bought it and have no intention of selling it? (Yes, I should have known, but I was lead to believe Gibson had a factory in China, and I was getting a local factory “second” at a substantial discount.) NOTE: Gibson doesn’t have a China factory… It’s 100% fake.
It would be illegal for you to sell it as a Gibson, but owning it (since it was not purchased in the US) is not. If you purchased it in the US it would be illegal, trademark (not copyright) infringement. I’ll also asume there are some patents involved in the highly precise wourld of string instrument making, so reproducing a Gibson exactly would be illegal, but as long as you never sell it, you should be alright.
SLASH signed the Gibson guitars in Winterthur/Switzerland
Leave a Reply
