The Federal Trade Commission has fined a company which was found to be posting fake reviews of its products online. Nashville, Tennessee-based Legacy Learning Systems and its owner, Lester Gabriel Smith, will pay $250,000 to settle the charges. The company produces the Learn and Master Guitar program, marketed as a way to learn the guitar at home using DVDs and written materials. The FTC said that it used an online affiliate program, through which it recruited ‘Review Ad’ affiliates to…

Fender has teamed up with King Baby Studio to create a line of jewellery. The collection includes rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, pendants and cufflinks, for men and woman. The designs draw upon “the spirit of music itself by showcasing elements conducive to every music genre Fender has been so influential in.” Here’s what Fender have to say about it: “Throughout history, music and fashion have gone hand-in-hand, inspiring and igniting unique styles and trends. King Baby is world renowned for…

In a follow up to a story we reported last week, The Country Music Association of Australia has described the appointment of Ian Burkinshaw to its inquiry into a bungled award presentation as “a right step forward”. Tamworth-based Mr Burkinshaw a former police prosecutor for 34 years now lives in Tamworth and is part of Tamworth Regional Council’s Ethics Committee. His appointment comes a week after Lee Kernaghan was mistakenly given the Best Album award at the Country Music Awards,…

Rage Against The Machine have lent their support to South Korean workers who manufactured Fender and Gibson guitars and are protesting after being dismissed. Guitarist Tom Morello has met with workers who protesting about losing their jobs in 2007. He may be present at a press conference they are holding in California on Jan 13. Workers at the Cort and Cor-tek firms, who manufactured guitar parts for companies such as Gibson, Fender and Ibanez at their plant in South Korea,…

Ernie Ball Inc. has won a patent infringement case against Earvana LLC. The Coachella-based manufacturer received final word from a federal court judge in Los Angeles on Wednesday that its patent for nut attachments that help tune guitars was protected. Represented by attorney G. Henry Welles of Riverside-based Best Best & Krieger, Ernie Ball Inc. won $247,525.20 in patent infringement damages and an extra $18,046.67 in pre-judgment interest. The damages were calculated based on what it would have cost Earvana…

Newly-filed court documents show that criminal indictments are expected against Gibson Guitar after a federal raid in November 2009. The details are from an affidavit filed by one of the Fish and Wildlife service agents investigating the case. Wood from the island nation of Madagascar was seized at the Gibson Guitar factory during the raid and there have been accusations that the company has been illegally harvesting a type of wood from Madagascar, sending it to Germany and then importing…

Tennessee-based Gibson Guitar Corp. was granted a request for an injunction against WowWee USA Inc., the maker of Paper Jamz toy guitars, on Wednesday by a court in Los Angeles. The ruling directs retailers to stop selling the stringless guitars, which play music as children pretend to be rock stars. The injunction was aimed at toymaker WowWee and some of the nation’s biggest retailers including Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, Big Lots Stores, Kmart, Target and others. The initial complaint was filed in…

Mumbling something about “Getting the band back together”, Two Old Hippies founders, Tom and Molly Bedell, along with Breedlove’s Kim Breedlove and “Crazy” Pete Newport have announced that they are joining forces to create “The World’s Coolest Guitar Company.” This confirms Breedlove is indeed joining the Two Old Hippies family. The synergy in the merger is immediately obvious; both Two Old Hippies Tom Bedell and Breedlove’s Kim Breedlove are products of the ‘60s, and the spirit of Peace, Love and…

The hi tech business gossip website, Tech Dirt, has uncovered yet another lawsuit action taken by Gibson, this time against the Wowwee toy maker, which produces the Paper Jamz toy guitars, drums and amps that enable users to imitate musicians simply by touching the circuit-embedded ‘paper’ that make up the instruments’ surface and structure. (The new toys were featured in an MI Pro news story here.) Not happy with taking Wowwee to court, which on the face of it seems…

Western musicians delight in the world’s best and most exotic guitars, but it is claimed Chinese-made instruments are fuelling an illegal trade in rare timber. Environment watchdog Global Witness says rare and sought after timbers, such as ebony and rosewood, are being cut down in the forests of Madagascar and exported to Chinese guitar factories. Some companies, however, are promoting their use of sustainable timbers for guitars. Maton is Australia�s best known guitar maker, and director Anthony Knowles told Radio…