famous beagle
Well-known member
So everyone's heard about the lawsuits Behringer faced from Mackie and all. From my understanding, the court dismissed the charges, stating that circuit schematics are not protected by copyright laws. And I guess they rejected the "Trade Dress" claims as well.
At any rate, what I'm wondering is this:
Why was Behringer called out for this type of thing and yet all these other companies, such as Warm Audio, making clones of famous compressors/etc. are not being called out and/or sued? Here are some prime examples of what I'm talking about:
Warm Audio WA76: 1176 clone
Warm Audio WA76 Limiting Amplifier | Sweetwater.com
Warm Audio WA-2A: LA-2A clone
Warm Audio WA-2A | Sweetwater.com
Warm Audio EQP-WA: Pultec EQP-1A clone
Warm Audio EQP-WA | Sweetwater.com
I mean ... they're not even trying to disguise it at all. They even mention in the sales pitch that it's "'2A-style" or "Pultec-style," etc. The WA76 even says it's "a modern reproduction of the Classic '76 Revision D."
So ... what gives?
I'm not trying to gain sympathy for Behringer or anything, but I just don't understand why what they did was seen as trademark/copyright infringement and what Warm Audio or Maxon (in the guitar pedal department) are doing is seemingly acceptable. (I'm not aware of any lawsuits against these companies, but maybe there are some I don't know about?)
At any rate, what I'm wondering is this:
Why was Behringer called out for this type of thing and yet all these other companies, such as Warm Audio, making clones of famous compressors/etc. are not being called out and/or sued? Here are some prime examples of what I'm talking about:
Warm Audio WA76: 1176 clone
Warm Audio WA76 Limiting Amplifier | Sweetwater.com
Warm Audio WA-2A: LA-2A clone
Warm Audio WA-2A | Sweetwater.com
Warm Audio EQP-WA: Pultec EQP-1A clone
Warm Audio EQP-WA | Sweetwater.com
I mean ... they're not even trying to disguise it at all. They even mention in the sales pitch that it's "'2A-style" or "Pultec-style," etc. The WA76 even says it's "a modern reproduction of the Classic '76 Revision D."
So ... what gives?
I'm not trying to gain sympathy for Behringer or anything, but I just don't understand why what they did was seen as trademark/copyright infringement and what Warm Audio or Maxon (in the guitar pedal department) are doing is seemingly acceptable. (I'm not aware of any lawsuits against these companies, but maybe there are some I don't know about?)