MW RokPak - Profiles for Kemper Profiling Amplifiers

  • Trying to sue Kemper for their amplifier is like trying to sue Sony for the tape recorders they sell, or the CD/DVD writers. In that regard, I think that the reason why companies have threatened legal action is use of their brand name and products to sell something.


    That is something they feel could hurt their business. If they admit that the Kemper can cop their amps, do you know how the market would react? All those tube guys who say a digital device can't cut it? The Axe FX brigade?


    I'l just warn all those people here: don't do it, or it'll come back to haunt you. :D

  • LOL


    In Italy, when you buy anything able to record/copy a digital file, you pay a fee destined to music companies. Every USB stick, HD, recorder, even writeable disks are taxed. Because you're supposed to use them for illegal copies/sharings.


    A bland example of what Pier Paolo Pasolini called the arrogance of the Power

  • How about this...


    From now on, all studios, all producers, engineers, etc, participating on the internet and Youtube, from this day on do not mention or film the names of the amps you're using to record famous bands, guitarists.
    Cover the amps with a sheet and don't give the amp "names/manufacturers" exposure to the millions of Youtube viewers and internet participants....make them pay for the FREE exposure, advertising and sales they're getting worldwide.


    Let them do their own advertising and pay for it...

    That's exactly what ran through my head as well when I read the announcement.


    Amp manufacturers sure don't complain when the big bands tour with their gear, displaying it on stage in front of thousands of people :wacko:


    And it's not like you're using the name to say "I'm selling a ..." but "selling a PROFILE of a ..."
    It's like selling a photo of a Ferrari. Do you have to ask permission to sell that photo if it says Ferrari somewhere?
    (I actually don't know that).


    But yeah...that whole trademark/logo area is pretty weird.

  • You would need to ask permission to use and in the case were you are making a profit you would most likely have to pay a royalty to the trademark owner, roughly 10% of total sales depending on the agreement. And the chances that they would even grant you the license to sell is slim based on their business model. Most companies require a large guarantee to get a license...many times in the range of $5,000 to $200,000 a year. I deal with this daily and the company I work for receives and pays a lot of royalties. It is big money and taken very seriously.

  • LOL


    In Italy, when you buy anything able to record/copy a digital file, you pay a fee destined to music companies. Every USB stick, HD, recorder, even writeable disks are taxed. Because you're supposed to use them for illegal copies/sharings.


    A bland example of what Pier Paolo Pasolini called the arrogance of the Power


    I think these regulations are valid or similar in the whole EU. In Germany for sure. This fee was even present in the old analog days. You payed it for every cassette tape you bought.

  • That is exactly what I wanted to add.


    Funny that one has to pay a "copy fee" and yet copying remains illegal.
    Btw the fee is also on CD Burners, Printers, Copiers, Fax-machines ...

    90% of the game is half-mental.

  • I may be wired in a weird way, but I usually stop buying goods/licenses when the company becomes "overprotective" and starts bugging me with copy protection mechanisms.


    If it wasn't for MW I would not have known of Mr. Chandler and his amps - now that I know he wants MWs profiles removed I will remember him as the guy who wanted his profiles removed from the pack; like I will forever remember Lars Ullrich as the guy who sued Napster and Sony as the company who hacked my computer with their hidden rootkit that installed itself as a copy protection mechanism on my computer.


    No more Metallica CD after that and not a single Sony CD or Entertainment product in my house after I spent days (and nights) to debug my faulty machine.

    90% of the game is half-mental.

  • I take Wagener's explanation as being the sum total of the reason some thing will not make it to the final pack release.


    I am also confident that some companies aggressively try to exert their "rights" of their products.


    I think the real issue is the use of real product names, model designations, and product logos in photos.


    What someone entity has a right to is theirs to defend. I don't see any issue for folks that use profiles.


    Being wise in marketing should remove allegations of infringement.


    I'm not an attorney. My personal guess is the trademarks are the deal behind such things.


    I don't see any need for rancor if one friend asks another not to do something and the friend that is asked agrees to honor the request ;) .

  • how about......we get this thread back on track and not derail it with the all the what ifs and jargon?



    Read between the lines, M. Wagener made it more than clear, as far as we know, that he did this because he had A FRIEND ask him too, period. I suspect that is probably the majority of the reason, and not legal. He had a close friend ask him to do something, so he did it, it probably is really that simple. We all would be so lucky to have friends like that. :)

  • Wasn´t the whole copyright issue discussed already? Personally the best thing I could take from Wagners statement was that some of the companies are embracing the profiler and are looking to make their own profile packs. How freakin awesome is that?


  • I basically agree...but ... there is one major difference in comparing other modelers to the Kemper from a "perception" perspective via it's marketing that if I was a lawyer I would make a ton of hay out of and that's all the videos demonstrating the profiling process and how when A/B'd back n forth the perceived reality is that the sound of that amp is exact and captured perfectly

    Any half-brained lawyer would defend this in less than a second. Turn any knob on the amp and play a note. Turn the same knob on the Kemper and play a note. Assuming Kemper has a knob named the same as the one on the amp.
    Until this is somehow solved, I think we are safe and I personally still will be buying amps - just recently many of them because of profiles I like.