Earlier this year we wrote about Fender’s legal blitz: armed with a German court ruling protecting the Stratocaster body as a copyrighted work, Fender began sending cease and desist letters to builders making S-style guitars. The guitar community reacted furiously, especially when small boutique workshops started receiving letters.
Now there’s an important update. In an interview with Guitar World in September 2026, Fender CEO Bud Cole said the campaign had “got ahead of us” and that Fender is now focusing only on large manufacturers.
What Has Changed?
According to Cole, Fender is no longer targeting small boutique builders. Instead, its efforts are now aimed at large manufacturers and sellers.
That’s welcome news for independent workshops, but it doesn’t undo everything. Letters had already gone out to boutique builders such as LsL Instruments before the change of course, and it’s not yet clear how those cases will be resolved.
The Numbers So Far
Reporting by Guitar World and Bloomberg puts the scale of the campaign in perspective:
- 60 firms have received cease and desist letters
- 32 are in discussions with Fender
- 18 have signed agreements to redesign their S-style guitars
The names on the list are not small. They reportedly include PRS, Yamaha, Schecter, Ernie Ball Music Man and Harley Benton, as well as Amazon, which received two separate takedown requests. The high number partly comes from retailers and marketplaces: shops like Thomann sell their own house-brand guitars, and big online marketplaces host thousands of sellers.
Thomann Is Fighting Back
Not everyone is settling. Thomann, Europe’s largest music retailer and the company behind Harley Benton, is in an ongoing legal dispute with Fender. That case could become an important test of how far the German ruling really reaches, since this time the defendant is a well-funded company that will contest it.
Fender’s Other Answer: The Squier Debut
Fender’s original target was the flood of cheap S-style copies sold online. Alongside the legal campaign, it has launched the budget Squier Debut series, sold exclusively on Amazon, to compete directly with those imports on price.
What It Means in Europe
The legal basis is still the copyright ruling from the Regional Court of Düsseldorf, which Fender made public in March 2026. It was a default judgement against a manufacturer that didn’t appear in court, and it covers guitars sold in the EU. That ruling still stands, so European builders and sellers making S-style guitars remain in a grey area, even if small workshops now appear to be off Fender’s list.
For players, nothing changes. Owning, playing, buying second-hand, repairing or modifying an S-style guitar from any brand is not affected.
Our Take
Pulling back from boutique builders is the right call, and it shows that the community’s reaction made a difference. But with 18 companies already redesigning their guitars and a court battle with Thomann still to come, the Stratocaster shape is not as “free” in Europe as it was a year ago. We’ll keep following the story.
Whatever brand your S-style guitar is, we look after it. GuitarBuddy offers setups, repairs and upgrades for players in Zandvoort, Haarlem, Aerdenhout and Amsterdam.
