Gibson Suit Alleging Counterfeit ‘Flying V’ Guitars to Be Tried

Guitar maker Gibson Brands Inc. lost its bid for a pretrial win in Texas federal court in a dispute with a distributor for allegedly selling counterfeits of its famous Flying V—played by guitarists including Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, and Eddie Van Halen—and other guitars.

But Armadillo Distribution Enterprises Inc.'s attempt to escape the claims altogether was also rejected in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas’ Thursday opinions.

Gibson sued Armadillo in 2019 for allegedly infringing eight trademarks—body designs for its Flying V, SG, ES, and Explorer guitars, one headstock design, and word trademarks covering “Flying V,” ...