Fender has begun sending cease-and-desist letters to rival guitar makers, including Yamaha and PRS, threatening legal action over the iconic Stratocaster body shape. The company claims it recently secured copyright protection for the design in Europe, having previously failed to trademark it in the United States, and argues that "Strat-shaped" guitars from other manufacturers infringe those rights. The move has provoked strong pushback from the wider industry, with lawyers for rival firms accusing Fender of anti-competitive bullying based on misrepresentations, setting the stage for a potential legal battle that could reshape the guitar market.

The dispute caps a more than two-decade effort by Fender to secure exclusive rights to the Stratocaster's double-cutaway, S-shaped silhouette. It remains unclear whether Fender will actually follow through with lawsuits. The same roundup also covers other music law developments, including a significant early ruling in a lawsuit accusing Drake of misleadingly promoting the online casino Stake, a German court finding that AI company Suno breached copyright by training on unlicensed songs, a $1 million-plus UK court order against Amy Winehouse's father over a "unjustified" merchandise lawsuit, Sony Music's promotion of Stephanie Yu to general counsel, and a settlement reached by Ye (Kanye West) in a sexual misconduct case.