Guitar Maker Escapes Copyright Claims Over Pantera Guitar Design

The technician who designed late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott’s “Dean from Hell” guitar lost his copyright infringement claim against Dean Guitars over the design at the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday.

Buddy Webster’s claims against Dean over its reproduction of the design were time-barred, the appeals court affirmed.

Webster—professionally known as Buddy Blaze—modified a Dean ML guitar and added a lightning storm graphic to create Abbott’s famous guitar design. Webster learned Dean was selling reissues of the guitar in 2004, and told it in 2006 that it couldn’t sell the reissues without his permission. Dean responded in 2007 that it ...