Gibson Guitars, which were severely affected by the enforcement of the Lacey Act now seek out public support for their cause.
On august 24th, 2011, federal agents from Fish and Wildlife Service raided Gibson`s facilities in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee and seized more than 10,000 Indian Rosewood guitar fingerboards, computers and other records with claims that Gibson violated the Lacey Act by purchasing and exporting fingerboards form India. Lacey Act was amended in 2008 to prevent illegal wood and wood product trafficking. Gibson claims that no laws were broken, Indian or US with the purchase of those fingerboards and that they took extensive measures to make sure seized fingerboards were exportable. In a text for Huffington post, Juskiewicz defended Gibson and stated that the actions against Gibson did nothing to stop worlds deforestation, or to protect American jobs.
Gibson embarked on the campaign to amend the Lacey Act and is currently working with relevant authorities on that subject. The struggle is not only for the Gibson, but for all those business unjustly affected by the Lacey Act. In order to garner wider attention and public support Gibson has come up with a contest open to people all over the world. There are three ways to participate, through a video, song or a logo supporting the Gibson struggle to amend the Lacey act. The price for the winner of the contest is a Gibson USA Les Paul Standard worth $3,899 which will be adorned with the winning logo.
Each of three categories is split into three sections , one for US residents, one for Canadian residents and one for contestants from Europe. Check the contest at Gibson Guitars official web page, participate and fight for your right to rock!
