could companies prevent "cross branded" paintjobs legally?

[dominikk1985]

I read that some Players Play with paintjobs of other companies. for example haas was supposed to Play a head racket with a dunlop paintjob a few years ago.

couldn't companies prevent that legally, i.e. in haas case not allowing their Rackets to be painted like another brand?

why aren't they doing this? most PJs are probably within the brand but some are probably still another brand.

 

[vsbabolat]

I read that some Players Play with paintjobs of other companies. for example haas was supposed to Play a head racket with a dunlop paintjob a few years ago.

couldn't companies prevent that legally, i.e. in haas case not allowing their Rackets to be painted like another brand?

why aren't they doing this? most PJs are probably within the brand but some are probably still another brand.

Haas never used a HEAD painted like a Dunlop. It was Safin that used a HEAD painted like a Dunlop and HEAD put a stop to it. But then Mauresmo a few years later at the end of her career used a Dunlop 200 paint like a HEAD Radical. Its a all very strange but rare for this to happen.

 

[hrstrat57]

Didn't Mark Philippoussis briefly use a Prestige Mid with a Dunlop Revelation Mid paintjob (black and green) ?

 

[darklore009]

could azarenka have the same case? i see her old head extreme is similar to her current pj juice racket

 

[cluckcluck]

James Blake used Dunlop under his Donnay paint just this past year.

 

[vsbabolat]

James Blake used Dunlop under his Donnay paint just this past year.

Donnay made him new frames with that Dunlop 300 Tour mold. He then at the end went back to his old Dunlop's painted back witht the old cosmetics bleedin through the black paint. Kal-el has some Donnay Blake sticks.

 

[vsbabolat]

Didn't Mark Philippoussis briefly use a Prestige Mid with a Dunlop Revelation Mid paintjob (black and green) ?

Dunlop made a copy of the PC600 for Mark

 

[BreakPoint]

Dunlop made a copy of the PC600 for Mark

But if Dunlop could do that, why didn't they just do the same thing for Safin? Instead of him playing with a PC600 with a Dunlop MW200G paintjob on it and getting sued by Head?

 

[vsbabolat]

But if Dunlop could do that, why didn't they just do the same thing for Safin? Instead of him playing with a PC600 with a Dunlop MW200G paintjob on it and getting sued by Head?

They tried very hard for Safin and could not. He did infact use a Dunlop Copy of the PC600 but he felt that they could not get it right. My personal opinion is I think he needed his CAP System. You need to hear that whistle from the CAP System when serving bombs or smacking 2 handed backhands down the line for a winner.

All they other times was his PC600 blacked out or at the 2002 Aus Open with full Dunlop Cosmetics on his PC600.

 

[BreakPoint]

They tried very hard for Safin and could not. He did infact use a Dunlop Copy of the PC600 but he felt that they could not get it right. My personal opinion is I think he needed his CAP System. You need to hear that whistle from the CAP System when serving bombs or smacking 2 handed backhands down the line for a winner.

All they other times was his PC600 blacked out or at the 2002 Aus Open with full Dunlop Cosmetics on his PC600.

So then Safin used a real PC600 with the cap grommets but with the Dunlop MW200G paintjob on it, so that's how Head found out because they could see the cap grommets?

Because I can't clearly make out the cap grommets from your pic above.

 

[vsbabolat]

So then Safin used a real PC600 with the cap grommets but with the Dunlop MW200G paintjob on it, so that's how Head found out because they could see the cap grommets?

Because I can't clearly make out the cap grommets from your pic above.

Yes, thats how HEAD found out.
Thats because there are no CAP grommets in that pic. It was one of Dunlop's attempts to make him a racquet he liked in that pic.
There is a whole thread on Safin and this subject.

 

[Bobby Jr]

...couldn't companies prevent that legally, i.e. in haas case not allowing their Rackets to be painted like another brand?

Nope. If you buy a racquet you can do whatever you want with it.

Of course the downside is, if they know they could go around telling people "he actually uses our frame painted like a *another brand*" which would be good PR if it was true.

 

[racketspec]

Yes, thats how HEAD found out.
Thats because there are no CAP grommets in that pic. It was one of Dunlop's attempts to make him a racquet he liked in that pic.
There is a whole thread on Safin and this subject.

I actually have one of these rackets that they made for him - was given it by someone who used to work with him at Dunlop. Absolutely lovely stick! Personally, couldn't tell it apart to play with from my prestige classic - but I'm definitely no Safin!

To be fair, Dunlop didn't know Safin asked Roman Prokes to get his classics painted up as Dunlops. They thought he had settled on one of the variations they had made him. They only realised when they saw him at the Oz using the painted up Classic. Unfortunately, so did Head!

Slightly pot and kettle though given Mauresmo's blatent pj later on. Even had dunlop branded grommets I believe.

 

[bjsnider]

It seems to me when I think about who is damaged by this, it's not necessarily the racquet manufacturers, but fans who think players play with a certain stick when they don't. If fans bought a particular stick because a player they dig uses it, that would be a sort of fraud, it seems to me.

Racquet manufacturers might sue each other arguing loss of sales or whatever, but it would be harder to prove exact damages -- how much sales difference was there really? A fan has a more concrete case in my view -- I wanted this and you lied and sold me that. But I'm not a lawyer.

 

[vsbabolat]

Because they are opening a can of worms and setting a precedent they probably dont want to. Although there are probably wilson players using PJ'd heads there are also Head players using Pj'd wilsons. Probably a bit of give and take really. I dont think the companies are that bothered by it, they know they all sell very similar products and that its of little benefit to legally attack each other

What HEAD players are using Pj'd Wilsons?