The "lawsuit era" is the late 70s & very early 80s, when Japanese companies were making pure copies of classic guitars. If I remember correctly, only Ibanez was actually sued. After that, the company changed around a bit and started to focus more upon its own styles.
I'm fairly sure that ESP wasn't sued in that era. In fact, I don't think it started to make a ripple on the market until the mid-80s. I think - think - that it had some legal wranglings with the big boys, hence it changed its headstocks on export-only guitars. ESP's daughter companies Navigator and Edwards still use the exact Gibson headstock on their Gibsonesque range, and their line of Fendery instruments has that headstock too. Navigator and Edwards are Japan-only lines.
Anyway...going by what I see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-AYAv0IoWI at 00:10 and at 00:33, it has twin humbuckers and a Floyd Rose, so I'd say it's the same guitar as in the photo in post number 1. Fret markers are on the edge, not in the middle.