In 2003, Barbra Streisand sued a photographer for publishing an aerial image of her Malibu home. Before the lawsuit, almost nobody had seen the photograph. After the lawsuit, everybody knew it existed. That is the Streisand Effect: when an attempt to suppress, hide or control something ends up making it far more visible than it ever would have been otherwise. And over the past couple of weeks, it has been hard not to think about that as the Fender Stratocaster legal story has

In April 1991, Gerald Ratner stood up at the Institute of Directors annual conference at the Royal Albert Hall and described some of his own products as “total crap.” He also joked that one pair of earrings was cheaper than a prawn sandwich from Marks & Spencer, but probably would not last as long. At the time, Ratners was the UK’s largest jewellery retailer. Within months, the company had lost hundreds of millions in value. Ratner himself was eventually forced to resign. The

Retailers are no longer the main tastemakers. That role has been slipping away for years and, in many cases, it now belongs to creators. A player sees a guitar on TikTok. A YouTube demo makes it feel exciting. An Instagram reel gives it context, attitude and identity. By the time that customer lands on your website or walks into your shop, they are often not starting from zero. They are arriving with a preference already forming. That matters, because too much of MI retail st

Something unusual happened in the guitar industry this week. Two court rulings. Same week. Opposite outcomes. ⚖️ One strengthened design protection. One declared a famous guitar shape legally generic. Taken together, they reveal something important about where guitar IP law is heading. What's gone on On 9 March 2026, the Regional Court of Düsseldorf ruled that the body design of the Fender Stratocaster qualifies as a “work of applied art” under German and European copyright l