U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and import specialists, in conjunction with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents, and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators recently pulled off the biggest seizure of counterfeit musical instruments in history. The record bust occurred at the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport.
“These fraudulent guitars may look and feel legitimate for unsuspecting consumers buying them from third party online sources, street markets, unauthorized retailers, and person-to-person transactions,” said Cheryl M. Davies, CBP Director of Field Operations in Los Angeles. “As we approach the busy holiday shopping season, consumers should pay attention on where they are buying these goods and how much they are paying, and if is too good to be true it probably is.”
The fake Gibson guitars were discovered when Customs and Border Protection officers in coordination with Homeland Security Investigations special agents and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators intercepted the cargo arriving in ocean containers from Asia. Once found, they were very easy to identify as fake, because Gibson guitars are only made in the United States. Gibson also confirmed that the seized guitars were counterfeit.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
“We are grateful for the hard work that our U.S. CBP officers, HSI special agents, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators are doing to stop counterfeiting,” said Cesar Gueikian, CEO of Gibson. “Our partnership is designed to help every agency work together to protect consumers and our fans from being misled into counterfeits.”
CBP’s Consumer Products and Mass Merchandising Center of Excellence estimated that the fake Gibson guitars, had they been genuine and using the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, would have had a combined value of $18,742,820.
“This is really emotional and personal for us not only because of the protection of our players, but because of our Gibson team at large, including the artisans at our craftories in Nashville, TN and Bozeman, MT, who are generations of American families that have dedicated their entire lives to handcrafting Gibson instruments,” adds Beth Heidt, Chief Marketing Officer at Gibson.
In semi-related news, Gibson is also battling with Donald Trump-endorsed Trump Guitars over what it says are lookalikes.
“We can confirm a cease and desist has been issued against 16 Creative as the design infringes upon Gibson’s exclusive trademarks, particularly the iconic Les Paul body shape,” Gibson wrote in a statement to Guitar.com.