Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture Music Production Blog: Justice Department

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Gibson Gives In, Or Does It?

The case of Gibson Guitar vs. The US Fish and Game and their claim that Gibson violated the Lacey Act by importing wood on the endangered species list has gone on for a couple of years now, but now it looks like it's finally come to an end.

In a Department of Justice press release yesterday, the DOJ announced that Gibson has agreed to pay a $300,000 fine, and forfeit the seized rosewood and ebony from India and Madagascar, bringing the case to a close.

While this seems like an admission of guilt, it may have been a clever business move by Gibson. First, it puts the case behind them, stopping the unwanted press and the financial bleeding that comes from hiring attorneys required to fight such a high profile case.

But even more than that, it actually calls into question the DOJ's tactics, since many are now wondering, "Why did the DOJ decline to pursue further prosecution?" The agreement not only calls into question whether just was really served (I don't think it was), but also makes it seem like a company can buy its way out of criminal prosecution if it has the wherewithal.

All I know is that if I were buying a new guitar today, I'd be checking really carefully to see what kind of wood was actually used in creating it. Who knows how spooked guitar manufacturers are after this.

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Sunday, May 20, 2012

The Feds Threaten Gibson And Artists Again

Last year I reported about how the US Department of Justice and the US Fish And Wildlife Service raided Gibson Guitars not once, but twice on the grounds that the company was using protected wood from overseas in the making of their guitars (you can read about it here, here, here and here). During the raids, not only were pallets of wood confiscated, but computers containing information about the wood as well.

The Justice Department claimed that Gibson somehow violated the 112 year old Lacey Act, which was originally instituted to regulate the trade in bird feathers for hats, but was amended in 2008 to include wood and plants, with the express intent of protecting certain species of wood from being over-harvested. Gibson claimed that any exotic foreign wood that they use in the creation of instruments came from certified Forest Stewardship suppliers, so there was never a violation.

After Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander got involved, it seemed like everything was smoothed over; until now.

It seems that word has recently come down from the Justice Department that it's planning to raid summer concerts in order to seize what they deem to be illegal guitars made from banned tone woods. Another possibility is that guitars could be seized from musicians returning from out of the country tours at the border by Customs agents.

The governments actions seem to make no sense on so many levels.

1) Gibson seems to have presented adequate proof that the tone woods used were legally sourced.

2) Even if that's not the case, seizing an instrument from an end user that's unknowingly paid a good deal money in a purchase without any compensation is just wrong. Seize the guitars at the factory if you must, but don't treat the end users as criminals too.

3) Expand that to the concert scene. Imagine going to see an act that suddenly had their favorite instrument confiscated by the government. That's not going to help their performance any; one that you paid a lot of money to see.

4) It's an election year. This action can't possibly make many many friends for the administration, and will most certainly alienate a number of solid constituencies.

Come on, Justice Department. Let's concentrate on more important things. Everyone is for protecting endangered forests, but there's got to be a better way than this.

Thanks to Rob Carty for the heads-up on this story. You can read more about it here.