Recently the US Federal investigators raided Gibson Guitars’ Memphis facility and removed hundreds of finished guitars, records and computers citing the Lacey act as justification. The Lacy act was meant to protect against illegal poaching and was amended over the years to include things like illegal logging etc. The raid was based on a technicality as the wood in question was imported legally from India. More info can be found here: http://www.science20.com/science_20/gibson_guitars_and_lacey_act_misused-82210 What do you think? Do you think it's bullshit?
If the wood was actually protected in India and they took it from India knowing that it was wrong or even thought it might be wrong then I agree with taking the guitars away to prevent this from happening again. Perhaps a fine would have been better but the message should be made clear that they were doing something wrong and it has to be stopped.
From the article: "The dispute is over Indian Ebony, all completely documented and legal except for this interpretation business. The Indian government "prohibits the export of sawn wood" but does not prohibit the export of veneers, sheets of woods that have already been worked on. The Feds say the wood was falsely declared as veneers because some assembly is still done in the U.S rather than India." It looks like Gibson obtained the wood (heh… wood…) legally and in accordance with the law in India. I wonder if this will increase the value of my Les Paul with an ebony fretboard? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
