Slashdot Mirror
IBM Sues Company Selling Fake, Flammable Batteries
Bergkamp10 writes "A Computerworld article is reporting that IBM is suing Shentech for selling laptop batteries that catch on fire and sport allegedly fake IBM logos. IBM apparently followed up on a claim by a customer that an 'IBM' laptop battery bought at Shentech caught on fire and damaged his laptop. The customer reported the problem to Lenovo (who license Big Blue's trademark) who subsequently ordered 12 batteries from Shentech and found them all to be fakes. IBM is asking for US$1 million in damages for each dodgy battery sold."
They're in the US - it should be possible to track their warehouses and resources via shipping records. Let loose the Nazgul!
All lithium-ion batteries are highly flammable, not just these. It's just that Shentech batteries are apparently more prone to spontaneous ignition than others.
John
Given that the coffee lawsuit was totally justified (McD's had been cited by inspectors many times) for setting their coffee machines too hot--- by law, there's a max temp. 3rd degree burns should not occur without 30 seconds of exposure to the liquid; they had theirs set so that 3rd degree burns would occur in 3 seconds. So- despite your reference to a supposed "frivolous lawsuit", your post is actually more accurate than you believed--- both would be suits brought for good cause.
I ordered two Apple Powerbook AC adapters from them, which they were selling about $30 less than Apple list, a year or so ago; both died within a week. Shentech exchanged them - they refused to refund at first, depite my concerns that they had a bad lot - and the replacements died also. I asked for a refund this time, being pretty confident that any replacements they sent would be from the same production run, but they refused until I threatened to dispute the credit card charge with my bank. In retrospect I'm 99.9% confident that they were bogus, and this story seems to confirm my suspicions.
The punchline? I ordered the adapters from a different company and had the same problem. Getting a refund was easier this time, and I gave up and went to the Apple store. So much for trying to save a buck.
therefore there has to be a record somewhere of where their inventory is being shipped from. Even if it's overseas, the importer still has to be on record, with resources ripe for the picking.
Mod parent up, he's correct, and therefore not trolling (similar to the fact you can't be libelous if you speak in fact), in that the McDonald's coffee case is often incorrectly dragged out as an example of the need for tort reform:
http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.htm
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm
I was shopping for a new battery for my T43 last month and ran across Shentech through Pricegrabber. Their price really stood out versus reputable sites like newegg. I can say that in the late October timeframe they were in fact advertising them as "Genuine IBM/Lenovo" OEM batteries. I almost bit, but my "this is too good to be true" alarm stopped me. I ended up buying an OEM battery off of ebay.
When they put an IBM logo on something without actual IBM endorsement.
Per battery.
Shentech is doing business in a location called "Flushing, NY". I'm not sure where that is in China, but I'm sure that Lenovo, headquartered in Beijing, might be able to find them.
.. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
they had theirs set so that 3rd degree burns would occur in 3 seconds.
And as I like to point out whenever this topic comes up because a lot of people don't seem to realize, "3rd degree burns" means burns like these which can only be treated with these.
Now imagine that was on your crotch.
There's always somebody who says something like "LOL what an idiot, everyone knows you have to be careful with coffee because it's HOT!" Well everyone I've ever met must be an idiot, because I've never seen anyone treat coffee like it could do that to you in seconds. It'd be like seeing someone casually set a lit acetylene torch in their cup holder as they drove around. There's oops-ouchie hot, and there's skin-grafts-on-the-crotch way too fucking hot.
The enemies of Democracy are
First off the company is based in New York, USA not China. Sure they may have suppliers in China, but most major companies do. Next, the company was selling defective batteries and as previous posters have noted, they sold defective AC adapters too. For trademark and copyright infringement, think of it this way, theres nothing wrong with me making a website, theres nothing wrong with me putting ads on website nor is there anything wrong with making a search engine. However, if I get say gooogle.com, make it look like Google and put spyware and adware all over it and record people's searches, that is bad. As for quality people thought they were getting an true IBM battery they didn't think they were getting a battery that would explode, there are places all over the web that buy things in bulk or have deals with OEMs and can sell technology and computers for cheap, I am sure that 99% of the people thought this company was doing the same, when they got it, it had the IBM logo on it so they thought like most of us do IBM logo == IBM. That is what IBM is suing for, the fact that they mislead customers that they were getting an IBM battery, not some Explode-O brand battery.
There is no "disagree" moderation, and troll, flamebait and overrated are not valid substitutes
Geez.
If this submission be right, McDonald's should not have served drinks at any temperature which would have caused a bad scalding injury. The evidence is that tea or coffee served at a temperature of 65 C (149 F) will cause a deep thickness burn if it is in contact with the skin for just two seconds. Thus, if McDonald's were going to avoid the risk of injury by a deep thickness burn they would have had to have served tea and coffee at between 55-60 C (131-140 F). But tea ought to be brewed with boiling water if it is to give its best flavour and coffee ought to be brewed at between 85-95 C (185-203 F).[10]
Though defenders of the Liebeck verdict argue that her coffee was unusually hotter than other coffee sold, other major vendors of coffee, including Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Wendy's, and Burger King, produce coffee at a similar or higher temperature, and have been subjected to similar lawsuits over third-degree burns.[13] And moreover, it seems to me that the coffee had the right temperature (more so, considering that it was served at a drive thru which means people will indeed drink the coffee while driving over long distances): Home and commercial coffee makers often reach comparable temperatures.[14] The National Coffee Association instructs that coffee be brewed "between 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit [91-96 C] for optimal extraction" and consumed "immediately". If not consumed immediately, the coffee is to be "maintained at 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit." [15] I have always thought that such a suit is only possible in the happy suing USA.
Now, returning to the IBM case (and this main story subject), I really hope they sue these bastards as they are counterfeiting merchandise. This is a company trying to profit from a registered trademark (or name?) selling terrible products. IMHO these are the real pirates who should be punished with all the extent of the law
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
What possible international law enforcement agency would enforce a ban on work-alike/look-alike products?
WIPO.
Who would you have enforce the copyrights and trademarks of IBM?
The Department of Justice.
do you think that US Customs should be the filter and prevent such purchases from entering the US?
Check this out.
And if you bought something like this on the Internet and it was confiscated, should the customer just lose their money?
Pretty much.
Yes, very good, the article does indeed indicate that IBM is seeking $1 Million in damages per battery. Something you need to understand about damages is that they do not necessarily mean that 'X' number of dollars were removed from your hands.
The overall potential damage to IBM of this infringement would be in the hundreds of millions, if not the billions both directly and indirectly for years to come. Asking for massive damages is not unreasonable under those circumstances.
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
the coffee lawsuit was totally justified
No, no, no.
Stella Liebeck, a passenger in a car, took a cup of hot McDonalds coffe, placed it between her (pointy) knees, and proceeded to PULL the lid off, thereby dumping the coffee in her lap. Instead of pulling the hot-coffee-soaked cloth away from her skin (she was wearing sweatpants), she sat in the puddle of coffee for at least 7 seconds. This resulted in severe burns to her crotch and legs.
McDonald's quality control managers specified that its coffee should be served at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit. And you know wht? THEY'RE RIGHT! The National Coffee Assosiation of USA, Inc. (and who would know more about making coffee??) Says you need "a water temperature between 195 - 205 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal extraction" and that "Brewed coffee should be enjoyed immediately!", but if you don't serve it right away "the temperature should be maintained at 180 - 185 degrees Fahrenheit."
And, just as a slam dunk, even HOME coffee makers use water that hot: check out This link, which clearly states things like "The water is approximately 50F hotter than what's available from your hot water faucet" and keeps water at the ideal brewing temperature of approximately 200F
So, right there goes any claim that the coffee was "too hot".
Second- yes, McDonalds has a record of coffee causing burns. The defense was able to find 700 cases (of all severities, from first degree (red skin) to third degree(blisters). In the last 10 years. Nationwide. That's like, 0.003 burns per day per state. Actually, when you factor in how many cups of coffee were sold, you find that only 1 in every 24 million caused a burn. That means, for each person who burned thenselves, 23,999,999 were able to buy coffee without injury.
How does this make McDonalds coffee 'unreasonably dangerous'? A: it doesn't.
Look, getting burned is horribly painful. And skin grafts are not pleasant, either. But don't let your feelings of pity toward Stella cloud your Reason. She suffered. Horribly. But it was her own fault, not McDonalds.
Indeed. I bought something from Shentech about 5-6 years ago, and incurred a world of hurt. I bought a mouse--an Dell-branded Logitech USB mouse for about 6 bucks (great mouse, still going strong). Then over a year letter I discovered that someone had opened a commercial UPS account in my name and used it to ship wholesale quantities of goods from China to Shentech's address in Queens. I found this out when I received the bill. UPS was good about it and the bill went away...for a few months. Then another similar bill arrived at my new address (I'd moved from NYC to California). Again UPS's fraud squad dealt with it. I guess it was pretty obvious that someone who doesn't have a business wouldn't be shipping several thousand pounds of equipment across the Pacific. But they did something nasty with my contact info, and I've watched my credit reports carefully ever since.
So yeah, Shentech is evil.
.sig withheld by request
I bought a counterfeit Sandisk compact flash from these people.
They should be avoided like the plague. Hopefully, some zealous district attorney will go after them, if there is anything left after IBM finishes with them.
their coffee was served much hotter (at least 20 degrees more so) than at other restaurants.
Not true.
more than 700 incidents of scalding coffee burns in the past decade
This is true- there were 700 burns (of ALL severities) over 10 years. Now, when you factor in how many cups of coffee were sold, you see the real figures: one burn for every 24 MILLION cups sold. That means, for every idiot who burned himself, 23,999,999 managed not to. So... how's that make their coffee so dangerous??
The woman involved in this infamous case suffered very serious injuries - third degree burns on her groin, thighs and buttocks that required skin grafts and a seven-day hospital stay.
True, but irrelevent. Bringing this up is an obvious appeal to emotion.
she wouldn't have brought the lawsuit against McDonald's had the Corporation not dismissed her request for compensation for medical bills
They didn't do anything wrong, why should they pay her anything?
Reports also indicate that McDonald's consistently keeps its coffee at 185 degrees, still approximately 20 degrees hotter than at other restaurants
Not true. The National Coffee Assosiation of USA, Inc. (and who would know more about making coffee??) Says you need "a water temperature between 195 - 205 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal extraction" and that "Brewed coffee should be enjoyed immediately!", but if you don't serve it right away "the temperature should be maintained at 180 - 185 degrees Fahrenheit."
And, just as a slam dunk, even HOME coffee makers use water that hot: check out This link, which clearly states things like "The water is approximately 50F hotter than what's available from your hot water faucet" and "keeps water at the ideal brewing temperature of approximately 200F"
The second link you post has:
Liebeck placed the cup between her knees and attempted to remove the plastic lid
Was that (placing it "between her knees") safe handling of a cup of hot liquid? No. So, it's her own fault for carelessly handling the coffee.
McDonalds
Which is right in line with the recomendations.
coffee served at home is generally 135 to 140 degrees.
1)notice the way they phrase that- the coffee "served" at home. Is this after beign poured into a (dense) ceramic mug? After adding milk/sugar? After the host/hostess lets it sit to cool? After bringing from the kitchen to the dining room?
2)as linked to above, home coffee makers use water just as hot (190-205) as McD's does.
McDonalds' quality assurance manager
hazard exists with any food substance served at 140 degrees or above
Newsflash: ALL "hot" foot MUST be kept above 140 degrees! Therefore, ALL 'hot' food you buy is "a burn hazard". Funny how people don't seem to burn themselves that often, with all these "burn hazards" about....
Look, don't get me wrong. It was a horrible thing to have happen. but, McD's did NOT have the coffee too hot. Stella DID mis-handle the coffee. The only logical conclusion: It was her own fault.