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[guitarsmashley]

And Gibson claimed innocence and rallied the tea baggers on how this was all a plot by Obama to stop the american workforce from making an honest living...well not so much.

Gibson Guitar Corp. has agreed to pay a fine for illegally importing exotic wood from Madagascar and India, the U.S. government said Monday.
Gibson will pay a $300,000 penalty to avoid criminal charges for importing ebony and rosewood in violation of the Lacey Act, which prohibits the acquisition of plant products that are protected in other countries, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

Importing Illegal wood also known as smuggling way to go assholes.

[nattygreene]

Humm for some reason this hasn't gotten as much coverage... liberal media bias my ass. This issue isn't sexy anymore.

[guitarsmashley]

Humm for some reason this hasn't gotten as much coverage... liberal media bias my ass. This issue isn't sexy anymore.

it hasn't gotten much coverage because yesterday was a news overload day.

[S.F. Jude Terror]

Huh huh. Wood.

[guitarsmashley]

Huh huh. Wood.

real punk rockers can't afford Gibsons.

[achilles]

They settled for the reasons most people do against the government; it was simply cheaper. They couldn't afford to fight it out in the long run, since it was clear the government was out to get them by twisting rules and using new interpretations of said rules.

It was never about smuggling wood, that wasn't even in play. The specific allegations were that Gibson imported unfinished wood, that is wood that wasn't in it's finished state. In other words, the government wanted Gibson to move jobs over to India, which incidentally had no problems at all with Gibson's conduct, and said so numerous times.

And Gibson couldn't gamble on Romeny getting elected and removing the Obama administration's vendetta against Gibson, (or rather against its CEO, who donated to Republican candidates. Which is a common theme with Obama--using the government to go after donors to Republicans).

[MrBlack]

If you read the terms of the settlement, it seems that much of the discussion centered on the definition of "finished wood." Indian law prevents wood from being exported that isn't "finished" (note that this is a labor law, not a law meant to lessen the environmental impact of harvesting wood). Gibson was arguing that the fingerboards they were importing were "finished" under Indian law; the US government argued that the transformation of these fingerboard blanks into fretboards (with frets and inlays installed) violated Indian law. For the record, the Indian Trade Minister went on record as saying that Gibson had not violated any of their laws.

It was probably wise on both sides to settle. Gibson wanted to be able to source wood from India and Madagascar again without being caught up in a lengthy and expensive legal battle with the government. The government's case was weak, and they'd taken a lot of heat from the press for their ham-handed use of the Lacey Act in justifying their raid of Gibson.

Here's hoping that all the guitars Gibson has made in the interim with baked maple fretboards drop in price significantly now that ebony and rosewood are back on the table. I'd love to get a Classic Custom.

[guitarsmashley]

they won't. Guitargod and I went electric shopping a few months ago he tried out a couple gibsons and they were overpriced for how awful they were.

[CountD]

real punk rockers can't afford Gibsons.

the one in "my" band just got one

behold

[guitarsmashley]

the one in "my" band just got one

behold

poser.

[CountD]

I'll tell him you said that.

[Cat-Scratch]

I got some "illegal wood" for Mila Kunis.