Inventor Singing the Blues About Ripped-Off Harmonica-Holder Idea: Lawsuit

A Mokena man shared his idea for a new kind of harmonica-holder and had the invention stolen away by a man and woman from Michigan, according to a lawsuit filed in Will County court.

Timothy McGreal sued Peter Kaynor and Katharine Sterken of Leelanau County, MI, as well as Farmer Musical Instruments, accusing them of stealing his HarpArm harmonica-holder.

“This is a revolutionary product that enhances the comfort of harmonica players worldwide,” the HarpArm Facebook page says. “It also greatly expands the popularity of playing the harmonica, especially as an added instrument, by giving the player much more freedom of movement and expression.”

In a December telephone conversation, McGreal “discussed trade secrets … with the belief that … Farmer Musical Instruments, LLC, was not in the business of manufacturing or distributing harmonica holders and/or related products,” the lawsuit said.

“Toward the end of said phone call, (Kaynor) explicitly stated that he fully intended on creating a harmonica-holding product line to compete with (McGreal’s) product line,” the suit said.

And Farmer Musical Instruments did just that, the suit said, and “presently sells a harmonica holder called the Farmer ArchTop Holder which bears trade dress that unlawfully copies and/or imitates (McGreal’s) HarpArm Freedom harp holder’s unique, distinctive, and non-functional trade dress features” in a manner that is “confusingly similar.”

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