I swore off Gibson 30 years ago for this attitude, when they sued Ibanez over the Les Paul 'copy'. If the Ibanez LP's had sucked, they would have left it alone, but they were so good, they hurt Gibson's LP sales.
Their annually upping the ante for independents to keep a franchise is a travesty. One local store here just lost their Epiphone franchise after more than 10 yers with it because he 'only' sold $80K in product last year. My favorite local store owner told me that at Winter NAMM, Gibson was only allowing merchants into their booth if they were current dealers, or had a set appointment via a sales rep.
Their 'exclusively available' deals with Guitar Center and Musician's Friend (isn't the ES-339 such a deal?) are one of the reasons I despise those outfits, too.
However, I'm OK with buying a 'previously owned' Gibson or Epiphone (as long as it's not made in the Gibson China factory) because Gibson gets no money from a resale. But I'd never buy new.
^^
AXES: Fender '81 The STRAT, '12 Standard Tele, '78 Musicmaster Bass, '13 CN-240SCE Thinline; Rickenbacker '82 360-12BWB; Epiphone '05 Casino, '08 John Lennon EJ-160E; Guild '70 D-40NT; Ovation '99 Celebrity CS-257; Yamaha '96 FG411CE-12; Washburn '05 M6SW Mando, '08 Oscar Schmidt OU250Bell Uke; Johnson '96 JR-200-SB Squareneck Reso; Hofner '07 Icon B-Bass; Ibanez '12 AR-325. AMPS: Tech 21 Trademark 10; Peavey ValveKing Royal 8; Fender Acoustonic 90, Passport Mini, Mini Tonemaster; Marshall MS-2 Micro Stack; Behringer BX-108 Thunderbird; Tom Scholz Rockman. PEDALS/FX: Boss ME-50; Yamaha EMP100; Stage DE-1; Samson C-Com 16 L.R. Baggs ParaAcoustic D.I; MXR EQ-10.