Trump’s got a brand new grift
Remember that James Brown song “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag?” Let’s borrow the title for Donald Trump: “Papa’s got a brand new grift.” He’s always coming up with something, especially something for which he can charge ridiculous sums of money. This time, it’s a guitar. You read that right. It’s called the “Limited Edition ’45’ Guitar.” Its claim to fame is that only 1,300 electric and acoustic guitars were made, and you can even get it autographed. It is billed as “The only guitar officially endorsed by President Donald J. Trump.” Gee, I never knew Trump played guitar (insert eye roll emoji).
Trump doesn’t care about guitars. He cares about making money off his ardent admirers. The guitar has “Make America Great Again” inlaid in authentic pearl up the neck of the guitar and the number 45 on the headstock (from the site gettrumpguitars.com). Now, wait until you hear what they cost. The acoustic guitars sell for $1,250, but if you want one autographed, the price goes to $10,250. If you want the electric guitar, it’s $1,500.00, and the autographed version is $11,500. Both the plain and autographed electric guitars are sold out. Who has the money to buy this crap? What a waste. Can you imagine how many people that would feed? To waste it on an autographed guitar is sinful. But there’s a big problem with the guitar: Gibson doesn’t like it.
According to Rolling Stone, Gibson has hit the company with a cease-and-desist order. The design of the Trump guitar looks eerily like Gibson’s Les Paul, which is a trademark owned by Gibson. They want to grift, yet they can’t even come up with their own designs. He has done this before with his “Never Surrender” high tops. According to Bloomberg Law, Louboutin didn’t only apply to women’s high-heeled pumps, but they also made men and women’s sneakers with the trademarked red bottom. Louboutin fought to the death with Yves Saint Laurent, where Louboutin prevailed in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bloomberg wrote that ever since that win, Louboutin had no qualms about going after other shoemakers who had the nerve to use their red sole. For some reason, however, Louboutin declined to go after Trump. As we now know, Trump is good at delaying lawsuits, and there’s also the potential political fallout for Louboutin. The issue is a double-edged sworn for Louboutin. They can go after Trump and fight for their trademark, or they risk losing the power of that trademark for letting it slide. Preetha Chakrabarti, a partner at Corwell & Moring LLP, handles trademark infringement lawsuits. She said: “He [Trump] isn’t new to using others’ IP without permission. It always puts the owner of IP in a really difficult spot because a lot of these brands and companies want to stay apolitical.” Apparently, Gibson doesn’t care about any of that.
Gibson is no stranger to fighting for its trademark. Guitar World said that Gibson has been involved in a long-standing lawsuit with Dean Guitars over its Les Paul body shape. So, who knows? Gibson may well go after Trump. Somebody needs to go after him for something.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years