Speaking of counterfeit Guilds...

[Brad Little]

Norlin (Gibson's parent at the time) sued Hoshino (Ibanez's parent)... As far as I know, that was the only real lawsuit that occurred during the era, but I'm sure the threat was real to all the Japanese companies doing this. Norlin and Hoshino settled out-of-court, by the way.

Not guitar related, but sometime in the late'60s early '70s, Yamaha decided to enter the world of high end saxophones and went on to make a clone of a Selmer Mark VI. Unfortunately, they didn't realize (or care) that some of the mechanisms involved were patented by Selmer, so they had to redesign theirs.