The good folks over at Fender Musical Instruments lost in court at their 5 year long attempt to trademark the body shapes of their Stratocaster, Telecaster and Precision Bass models.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office stated: “The applicant (Fender) has not established acquired distinctiveness such that these two-dimensional outlines of guitar bodies, standing alone, serve to indicate source. The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that these configurations are so common in the industry that they cannot identify source.” The 75 page document also goes on to say “it does not appear that … third parties intended to copy applicant’s guitar shapes for the purpose of confusing consumers and passing off applicant’s guitar shapes as their own.”
Next thing you know they will be trying to trademark the dimensions of a 50’s tweed Deluxe….