Basses

Gibson triumphs in revived trademark case against Dean – but could lose its ES trademark

March 21, 2025

A jury in a second trial has found Dean Guitars’ parent company Armadillo guilty of trademark infringement and counterfeiting of Gibson’s guitar designs, after Armadillo appealed against the initial ruling.
However, the verdict is not a clear victory for Gibson. The jury has also ruled that Armadillo only owes Gibson $11 in damages – and that Gibson’s trademark for the ES body shape is generic, and should be cancelled.
The jury trial concluded today (21 March 2025), almost three years after the initial jury verdict was filed. Armadillo’s CEO at the time, Evan Rubinson, stated the brand’s intention to appeal. And in July of 2024, it was successful in convincing the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to re-open the case.
What is Armadillo still guilty of?
After another jury trial, Armadillo has failed to meaningfully reverse the most significant aspects of the jury’s verdicts. The 2025 jury ruling finds that Armadillo intentionally infringed on Gibson’s V, Explorer and SG body shape trademarks, as well as on Gibson’s Hummingbird wordmark.
Notably, the 2022 jury found that Armadillo infringed on the Dove Wing headstock but not the Flying V wordmark – in 2025, it’s now the other way around – Armadillo is in the clear about the Dove Wing headstock, but has infringed on the Flying V wordmark.
As well as simple trademark infringement, Armadillo has also been found guilty of selling or marketing counterfeits of Gibson’s Flying V, Explorer, SG body shapes, plus the Flying V and Hummingbird wordmarks.
Is this a clear victory for Gibson?
While Armadillo is now facing its V and Z models being axed once again, this is not a total and complete win for Gibson. Firstly – the jury declared that for all of the infringing marks, Gibson essentially sat on its hands for too long, and should have accused Armadillo/Dean of copyright a lot earlier than it did, causing “undue prejudice” to Armadillo.
For the Explorer and Flying V marks, the jury declared that Gibson should have known Dean was using its marks as early as 1976 and 1977 respectively – ie, the first couple of years that Dean was in existence.
And so when it comes to monetary compensation, the jury has also declared that Armadillo owes Gibson just $11. As a demonstrative amount for the impact Dean’s models have had on Gibson, it’s pretty small – however, last time, the judge ordered Armadillo to pay nearly $300,000 in Gibson’s legal fees – and so the actual amount that needs to be paid could be much more.
Will Gibson lose its ES body shape trademark?
But perhaps most drastically, the jury was given the opportunity to decide if any of Gibson’s body shape trademarks were too generic to be infringed on. In 2022, the jury didn’t declare any of Gibson’s marks generic – but in 2025, it has found that the ES mark generic, and has stated it has been so since 1996.
The presiding judge still needs to issue a court order to enforce the judgement of the jury, and it’s here where we’ll learn the fate of any Dean models found to infringe on Gibson’s designs, and the fate of Gibson’s ES trademark.
When approached for comment, Gibson stated its intention to appeal against the ES verdict, and provided the following statement: “This case was about protecting Gibson’s legacy of innovation and its intellectual property, and not about money. It was about protecting American innovation and music evolution. We are incredibly pleased with the court’s second decision in our favor including finding the defendants guilty not only of trademark infringement but also of counterfeiting.”
Armadillo did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
What happens now?
The presiding judge still needs to enforce a judgement stemming from this jury verdict. In 2022, this initially resulted in the cessation of Dean’s marketing and sale of all infringing guitars plus $4,000 in damages – the amount decreed by the initial jury verdict. This was then followed by an order for Armadillo to pay $160,000 in legal fees for Gibson.
This time around, however, the judge also needs to decide the fate of the ES trademark atop what happens to Armadillo’s infringing designs.
The post Gibson triumphs in revived trademark case against Dean – but could lose its ES trademark appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.