Be careful with the amp / company names

  • All these 'legal notes' helps nothing when anyone continues to violate trade marks (names, pictures, ...).


    We are simply not allowed to use any real amp brand names to advertise - like sean here in each other thread e.g.:


    [THE BEST AMP PROFILES] Bogner XTC & Peavey JSX! Extremely dynamic, silvery highs & rich punch!
    or
    Stymphalian Productions - Mesa Mark IV Pack, 3.0 merged at last!
    or
    SinMix Soldano SLO100 Clone [Pack Out Now!]


    And all the profiles must have generic names as well - some amp manufactures bought my profile to check all this.


    And some Artist get mad when using their names as well.

    (All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with soundside.de)


    Great Profiles --> soundside.de

  • I've been looking into how Line 6 deal with this, being as they have done it probably the longest. Lets take the example of Pod Hd Blackface Double. Blackface Double has a picture of a Fender Twin with the Fender logo included and it reads like this.


    Blackface Double Based on* 1965 Fender® Twin Reverb®


    Fender® Twin Reverb® An all-time classic of biting twang and shimmering clean tones, the Fender® Twin Reverb® first hit the scene in 1964 and quickly became the standard for large, fully featured touring combos. Everybody used it, from jazz and country players to serious rockers. With 100 watts of power, 2x12” Jensen speakers, and lush onboard tremolo and reverb, the Twin Reverb® has remained a go-to amp for countless players for going on five decades, and has earned its place in the annals of tone history many times over. Played clean but singing with a Telecaster, this is the sound of Roy Buchanan; cranked with a Les Paul, it’s pure Michael Bloomfield. It never gets extremely overdriven and dirty, mostly just louder–a lot louder. Blackface Double NRM: The Normal channel is the mellower of the two, with less gain than the Vibrato channel. Blackface Double VIB: The Vibrato channel is a separate preamp circuit with clipping characteristics that are different than the Normal channel due to an additional 12AX7 tube stage. * All product names used in this manual are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Line 6. These trademarks of other manufacturers are used solely to identify the products of those manufacturers whose tones and sounds were studied during Line 6’s sound model development. Fender® and Twin Reverb® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corp.


    I am not so sure removing the amp logo is needed by this example but that is just a guess as I have no knowledge of these things


    Have a look at this line 6 PDF it may be useful for us http://line6.com/data/6/0a0643…219d8/application/pdf/POD HD Model Gallery - English ( Rev D ).pdf

  • So what will happen with zillion of free profiles having original trade marks amp names ?
    They will sue thousands of Kemperites having they profiles on RE ?
    Would like to see that court case .

    1988 Branko Radulovic Hand Made Strat in Macedonia (SFRJ)

    2006 Steve Vai vwh moded with SS frets and Sustainac 2006 (Japan)

    2008 Fender YJM , moded (USA)

    2010 Tom Andersons Drop Top 2010 (made in California)

    2017 Charvel GG sig Caramelised Ash (USA)

    2022 Gibson ES 335 2011 Custom Shop Cherry of course ( Memphis)

  • You cant use JTM, JMP etc, You cant use "sound alike" names either. - It has to have 3 letters different from the original if you are a commercial seller.
    You cant use amp pictures and scrub off some letters to match your own. because the font they used will be copyright.
    Any branding on the amp needs to be removed (NOT JUST NAMES) But words such as " power on" or TREBBLE etc etc..(its ok if its not eligible in the pic)
    If its a amp name with 3 letters, such as JSX. this cant be used its trademarked. and this is where they will screw you the most.


    IF your unsure, just don't use it. the penalties just are not worthy.


    You are allowed to use "Tried to replicate the sound off {brand name}" because this gives them good kudos, and they are therefore used as a benchmark, and therefore we are not as superior to that..therefore they are on top!. yada yada..


    You can use pictures, as long as any text is not visible, any "special" parts of the amp is not visible (its own design, i.e the texture of the metal plate on a TripRec) - brand names are not visible... but hey that don't leave much else!.


    Be VERY Careful regarding Microphones in pictures. - these guys can send fines without warning.. (trust me been there, done that) - so just don't put them up at ALL. and remove ANY you have on your sites quick as you can.


    And same with Pedals.. don't.. don't use pictures of them., they really DONT like it..


    IF you get consent from the original owners to use the brand name/pics, THIS has to be in writing.


    You are allowed to create a facebook page/blog whatever... and post as much as you want, talk real names real branding and show as many pics as you wish. - as long as you don't LINK your own store in the same post.


    Many of the above I don't do, some out of respect for the real authors of the equipment. - and some partly because we just cant. - these guys see the Kemper as a real threat. actually digital as a whole. and I dont actually blame them!.


    It is a PITA but it has to be done!.



    That is a few There that Ive had to deal with..

  • So what will happen with zillion of free profiles having original trade marks amp names ?
    They will sue thousands of Kemperites having they profiles on RE ?
    Would like to see that court case .


    No they cant and they wont. - you are LEGALLY allowed to use whatever name you want real OR not, if you are giving something away for Free. - IF your making a profit on behalf of someone else s name, then its not legally plausible. and therefore in breech.

  • @and44 Are you absolutely sure saying "Tried to replicate the sound off {brand name}" is still allowed?
    BTW I saw some really typical specal amp things, like knobs, faces etc. on your side as well..


    So If a seller can't use any typical thing, customers wouldn't by anything because they cant recognize the profiled amp.
    And maybe at the end the Kemper wouldn't exits anymore because everybody is afraid to profile an amp and to share it with other people :(

  • We've thought of changing names but haven't done it just yet because there are so many profiles to do it with in our catalog. I'm guessing it has to be done not only with the name of the profile but also the tagging within the profile? There's no way this can be done in a timely manner. When people use google to search for a specific amp profile, nothing is going to come up because nobody will know what names were used, not just for A/M but for any of the sellers.

  • @skyhighrocks That will be are real problem for all sellers for sure. :(


    @and44 I found All these illegaly things on your website you mentioned in your post before http://www.theampfactory.com/all-downloads/amps-pack-2/ ;-)Like i said before it's almost impossible to take care on all these things because then customers wouldn't by anything because they cant recognize the profiled amp.

  • What about "No this is not a Fender Deluxe Reverb, this one sounds way better" :D
    im curious if this would be allowed ;)


    Problem is not the brand name for the people to realize what it should be like Marsball..Mega Boobie...Piwi...etc ;)
    but specific models..especially for Fender combos...to understand what model it is with a fake name

  • @Armin Seeking to re-create the sound of a Mesa Boogie® Rectifier Amplifier.This are the famous high gain and Metal sounds.We profiled this amp with Elmwood® and MesaMesa Boogie® cabinets (miked with SM57 and Royer® R121).


    So if I understood Andy's posting right this is illegal too. :(


    @Webb I guess Line 6 paid a lot of money to use the original names ;)

  • @Armin Seeking to re-create the sound of a Mesa Boogie® Rectifier Amplifier.This are the famous high gain and Metal sounds.We profiled this amp with Elmwood® and MesaMesa Boogie® cabinets (miked with SM57 and Royer® R121).


    So if I understood Andy's posting right this is illegal too. :(


    This is fine - the profile packs have their own (generic) names and the brand name is only used to explain what was used during the process of trying to replicate that sounds.

    (All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with soundside.de)


    Great Profiles --> soundside.de

  • Yes - and be careful with pictures of amps - e.g. ENGL has it's ;Metal-Bar-Front protected.


    btw. Names of artists (Signature amps) should be avoided at all - as well as statements as 'this amp is played by xyz'.

    (All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with soundside.de)


    Great Profiles --> soundside.de

  • So If Andy is right with this:

    Quote

    You cant use JTM, JMP etc,
    You cant use "sound alike" names either. - It has to have 3 letters different from the original if you are a commercial seller.
    You cant use amp pictures and scrub off some letters to match your own. because the font they used will be copyright.
    You can use pictures, as long as any text is not visible, any "special" parts of the amp is not visible (its own design, i.e the texture of the metal plate on a TripRec) -


    Then you're wrong ;)