While this appears to now allow EU guitar makers to produce V-style guitars using the classic body shape, Gibson still has several other patents for the Flying V guitar in the European Union that are unaffected by this ruling, which refers purely to the shape of the body. The judgement goes on to confirm that by the time Gibson filed for the patent in 2010, the Flying V had become, “One possible variant of the many existing shapes.” The court also dismissed the notion that consumers only associate the V-shaped body with Gibson, declaring that, “The presence on the market of a significant number of shapes encountered by consumers makes it unlikely that they will regard a particular shape as belonging to a specific manufacturer rather than being just one of the variety of shapes characterising the market.” In the judgement, the court declared that while the shape of the Flying V guitar “was very original when it was released on the market in 1958, it cannot however deny the evolution of the market during the following 50 years, which was henceforward characterised by a wide variety of available shapes.”
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