check this out

[jason lollar]

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6372976-fulltext.html

[Spence]

So it's one of those P90's in a humbucker assembly. Bit of a long drawn out description. Who's patent is that then?

[jason lollar]

patent holder is gibson- I am just suprised as shit that they got that- typical

[David Schwab]

Who's patent is that then?

Gibson.

Here's a better version.

http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat6372976.pdf

[David Schwab]

patent holder is gibson- I am just suprised as shit that they got that- typical

I agree. That's crazy. I guess they haven't been enforcing it...

[jason lollar]

cool- looks like all the others- sort of a strat size coil with bar magnets-

[TD_Madden]

hmmm, I thought the patent showed it as a HUGE coil, not strat-size...

[Possum]

????

Thats an old patent, nothing new. I don't think they are enforcing it, I think Duncan or someone makes something similar, I quit making mine, too many hours to make one. I've heard Gibson's at a jam they sound OK.

[madialex]

Hi Jason

Good to see you here for a change. How's life treating you these days?

Hey Wolfe, you lurking around here somewhere too?

[TD_Madden]

My guess is that it's similar to Duncan's Phat Cat.

[Electricdaveyboy]

It is the Gibson P-94 Patent

This is the patent for the humbucker sized p-90 style pickup.It was designed by Wolfgang Damm who worked for the german gibson distributor back then.

[Dave Kerr]

Makes you want to publish every little possible tweak that makes pickups different from what's currently offered just to establish priority. What an absolute joke.

[David Schwab]

When did the Fat Cat come out? This patent is from 2002.

You know that you can take a patented pickup, make some changes, and if you can show that you have have improvements on the patent, or that your version is novel and different enough, you can patent your version.

Duncan's Kevin Beller did this with a variation on the Kinman/DiMarzio stacked humbucker. His even included the Kinman style laminated steel bottom bobbin.

[Dave Kerr]

Issued in 2002, filed in 1998 as a continuance of another application filed in 1996, related to a foreign patent dated 1995. Looks like Gibson saw it and bought the rights rather than fight it.

[David Schwab]

Ah.. see I didn't read that far into it!