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Feds seize ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds

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Re: Feds seize ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds

#161

Post by [deleted] »

hoorayimhelping wrote: post #156
arghwhat wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was, but the follow-up action designed to minimize risk of loss when caught by customs rather than avoiding import of fraudulent goods blurred image of your intentions. If you can get the shipments split, I'm sure you could also get them to not send the power adapters at all. If, however, you needed power adapters, you need to import proper ones - not just for legal reasons, but for the safety of the end-users.

> It was, but the follow-up action designed to minimize risk of loss when caught by customs rather than avoiding import of fraudulent goods blurred image of your intentions. It seems pretty clear to me, I think you're missing the point of the post. It's that this person is protecting his business in a way that's effective because the government isn't, and this is what he's forced to do when dealing with agencies that…

[deleted]

Re: Feds seize ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds

#162

Post by [deleted] »

segfaultbuserr wrote: post #58
zorked wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's this older Sparkfun story. They had their multimeters seized for being yellow: https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1428

Trademarks are not limited to text, the gray and yellow color scheme is a Registered Trademark by Fluke [0]. Nowadays 2/3 of the cheap meters use this color scheme, at this stage this trademark is effectively dead, most people will not connect this color scheme to Fluke. I didn't even know it came from Fluke (neither did SparkFun I guess), until this incident. But unless Apple registered something similar for shape o…

[deleted]

Re: Feds seize ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds

#163

Post by tyingq »

newacct583 wrote: post #158
tyingq wrote: post #130

The CBP is very hard to deal with. I once bought about 100 electronic items that come with AC adapters to power them. Unknown to me, the AC adapters had fake UL marks on them. So, the CBP seized the shipment. I asked if they could just seize the adapters, and explained that I hadn't even asked for UL listed adapters. No dice. The adapters represented less than 10% of the value of the shipment. Argh. And, of course, t…

I dunno, that sounds correct to me (contra the article here where they're just mindbogglingly wrong). The customs process isn't designed to prioritize customer value, it's designed to prevent counterfeit goods from reaching the market. These were counterfeit. Demanding that they part out the shipment for you to separate the stuff-they-can't-prove-is-counterfeit from the stuff-recipient-actually-wants isn't their job.…

They wouldn't "part it out", they would let me do it. This was an air shipment and the goods were in the same city I'm in.

While I'm not happy with the supplier, I don't think this was intentional on their part either. They just source AC adapters from someone else in Shenzhen. You can imagine they aren't real familiar with the consequences of trademark infringement. Which is what this was.

Edit: Note that it was all auctioned off later without the adapters. So the concept is known to them.

Re: Feds seize ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds

#164

Post by kop316 »

tyingq wrote: post #130

The CBP is very hard to deal with. I once bought about 100 electronic items that come with AC adapters to power them. Unknown to me, the AC adapters had fake UL marks on them. So, the CBP seized the shipment. I asked if they could just seize the adapters, and explained that I hadn't even asked for UL listed adapters. No dice. The adapters represented less than 10% of the value of the shipment. Argh. And, of course, t…

CBP has no idea what your intention is.

Would you agree that a reasonable assumption that if an electronic is shipped with an AC adaptor, then that electronic will be used with it?

And CBP does not have a crystal ball:

- Are you using it as is?

- If the UL marking is fake, who is to know about the entire thing?

- Are you going to resell this? If so, is the AC adaptor going with it?

- How do they know that this was an honest mistake? Do they take the your word at face value?

I could go on and on with scenarios. I get it, that is not fun. But I will ask you, what should they have done?

Re: Feds seize ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds

#165

Post by tyingq »

kop316 wrote: post #164
tyingq wrote: post #130

The CBP is very hard to deal with. I once bought about 100 electronic items that come with AC adapters to power them. Unknown to me, the AC adapters had fake UL marks on them. So, the CBP seized the shipment. I asked if they could just seize the adapters, and explained that I hadn't even asked for UL listed adapters. No dice. The adapters represented less than 10% of the value of the shipment. Argh. And, of course, t…

CBP has no idea what your intention is. Would you agree that a reasonable assumption that if an electronic is shipped with an AC adaptor, then that electronic will be used with it? And CBP does not have a crystal ball: - Are you using it as is? - If the UL marking is fake, who is to know about the entire thing? - Are you going to resell this? If so, is the AC adaptor going with it? - How do they know that this was an…

"what should they have done?"

Seized the adapters. That would have been enough for me to be more careful about adapters in the future. Seizing the whole shipment hurts me, but not the supplier.

See my other example here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24469959

There's any number of things you might not expect, and the receiver is the only one hurt when they are a smaller player.

Re: Feds seize ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds

#166

Post by dragonwriter »

steerablesafe wrote: post #98
unixhero wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I for one, cannot get over this: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=tsa+lot+of&_trksid=p233... Pretty much theft and resale.

What is the TSA supposed to do with these other than auctioning them off?

Since they are legal items that are merely prohibited to transport through the checkpoint, and since no forefeiture action has been taken which would lawfully deprive the owner of title, only a seizure of possession to prevent the prohibited action, they should be held for return to the owner outside of the secured area with storage charge (and shipment charge if an option for remote return is provided) covering reasonable actual costs only.

Anything else would seem to be deprivation of property without due process and taking for public use without just compensation, in violation of both the due process and takings clauses of the 5th Amendment.

Re: Feds seize ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds

#167

Post by Causality1 »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #133
Causality1 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to be an elitist to object to someone building a PC in a way that doesn't work and voids warranties and then fixing it during jump-cuts without telling the viewer? You need to be an elitist to take issue with the Verge using takedown notices to attack everyone who pointed out their failures?

I was not aware of the takedown notices but I watched a couple of the “response” videos and they came across as extremely malicious/toxic. I can see why The Verge would want to do everything in their power to counter that. There are better ways to criticize something.

Pretending to be an expert at something while giving people advice that is not only wrong but dangerous makes you fair game for absolutely any and all criticism.

Re: Feds seize ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds

#168

Post by kop316 »

tyingq wrote: post #165
kop316 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CBP has no idea what your intention is. Would you agree that a reasonable assumption that if an electronic is shipped with an AC adaptor, then that electronic will be used with it? And CBP does not have a crystal ball: - Are you using it as is? - If the UL marking is fake, who is to know about the entire thing? - Are you going to resell this? If so, is the AC adaptor going with it? - How do they know that this was an…

"what should they have done?" Seized the adapters. That would have been enough for me to be more careful about adapters in the future. Seizing the whole shipment hurts me, but not the supplier. See my other example here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24469959 There's any number of things you might not expect, and the receiver is the only one hurt when they are a smaller player.

Respectfully, how would they be able to verify that a) you are being truthful, and b) that only part of the shipment is real, when once part has been shown not to be?

Re: Feds seize ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds

#169

Post by snissn »

kop316 wrote: post #168
tyingq wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"what should they have done?" Seized the adapters. That would have been enough for me to be more careful about adapters in the future. Seizing the whole shipment hurts me, but not the supplier. See my other example here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24469959 There's any number of things you might not expect, and the receiver is the only one hurt when they are a smaller player.

Respectfully, how would they be able to verify that a) you are being truthful, and b) that only part of the shipment is real, when once part has been shown not to be?

by your logic shouldn't they also seize all future shipments sent to and/or from the shipper?

Re: Feds seize ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds

#170

Post by tyingq »

kop316 wrote: post #168
tyingq wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"what should they have done?" Seized the adapters. That would have been enough for me to be more careful about adapters in the future. Seizing the whole shipment hurts me, but not the supplier. See my other example here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24469959 There's any number of things you might not expect, and the receiver is the only one hurt when they are a smaller player.

Respectfully, how would they be able to verify that a) you are being truthful, and b) that only part of the shipment is real, when once part has been shown not to be?

The main part was not a "branded" item at all. It was an LED thing where no part of the item would be listed, branded, etc. They saw them because they unboxed quite a few of them to find the adapters with the fake UL mark.
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