Re: An Official Statement From Gibson Guitar Corp.
Whether it's "price fixing" or not, there have been some interesting practices by Gibson and other manufacturers (Martin, Taylor), to control the way their instruments are marketed and sold. Some on-line and catalog retailers aren't allowed to put their discount prices on the internet or in their catalogs; you get the "call for price" listings. Taylor for a while wouldn't let its dealers advertise that they sold used Taylors, or the prices of them. Several manufacturers have required their dealers to buy "full line" inventories, so the dealers had to take items that were hard to sell, in order to get items that were in demand.
Whether any of this violates anti-trust -- which generally is violated when separate firms collude to fix prices or carve up markets -- I leave to those with legal expertise (which I lack). Unfortunately, some of the above posts just reiterate the "Gibson bashing" with which we're all familiar: "Gibson makes bad instruments, nobody buys them any more, their prices are too high," etc. etc. The question of anti-trust violation is a specific legal one, having nothing to do with product quality, customer service, CEO salaries, or varnish color. Let's see how these 30 lawsuits pan out; wonder if I'll get a letter from some law firm asking if I want to join a class action? Who knows?
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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