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Apple Sued an Independent iPhone Repair Shop Owner and Lost (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the tough-luck dept.

Jason Koebler, reporting for Motherboard: Last year, Apple's lawyers sent Henrik Huseby, the owner of a small electronics repair shop in Norway, a letter demanding that he immediately stop using aftermarket iPhone screens at his repair business and that he pay the company a settlement. Norway's customs officials had seized a shipment of 63 iPhone 6 and 6S replacement screens on their way to Henrik's shop from Asia and alerted Apple; the company said they were counterfeit. Apple threatened to take action, unless Huseby provided the companies with copies of invoices, product lists, and a plethora of other things. The letter, sent by Frank Jorgensen, an attorney at the Njord law firm on behalf of Apple, included a settlement agreement that also notified him the screens would be destroyed. [...] Huseby decided to fight the case. Apple sued him. Local news outlets reported that Apple had five lawyers in the courtroom working on the case, but Huseby won. Apple has appealed the decision to a higher court; the court has not yet decided whether to accept the appeal.

8 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Good by bracktra · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple, if you want the general public to care about "counterfeit" parts, make your production operations completely domestic.

    Don't sue the little guy for your IP leakage problems in China. He's just trying to make a living, and there's no reason you should control the repair market.

    1. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Why don't you just read TFA?

      What part of "Independent iPhone Repair Shop" could suggest to anyone that he was/is a authorized Apple Repair Center?

      Also TFA states just in the subtitle that "Apple said an unauthorized repair shop owner in Norway violated its trademark by using aftermarket iPhone parts"

      So, an Independent iPhone Repair Shop which is not an authorized Apple Repair Center and obviously can't do WARRANTY Repairs and get paid for them fixing phones of people that don't want to pay hefty Apple aftermarket repair prices.

    2. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      So he is using stuff that other people already paid Apple for, doing a fix that Apple didn't get paid to fix.

      Let us try a car analogy shall we? So lets say I go and get a used transmission for my car from a junk yard and have it installed in my Toyota. So I'm having parts replaced in my car using stuff that other people already paid Toyota for. I'm STILL paying for the used parts and I can put them in my Toyota if I want. Of course I don't expect Toyota to cover that under warranty, but if I'm getting that work done anyways, it was out of warranty to begin with!

      It's not like the guy STOLE the parts from the old phones to install into a new phone, he acquired them in a completely legal fashion. Apple has no right for a cut of anything from this. Same as Toyota not having a right to a dime for me getting a used transmission dropped in my car.

  2. Counterfeit screen? by sinij · · Score: 5, Informative

    What is a counterfeit screen? Something that made look like a screen, but doesn't actually works? If not that, then it is third-party replacement screen, and Apple has no business telling anyone what parts to use.

  3. Nope by bracktra · · Score: 5, Informative

    He does not operate an authorized repair shop.

  4. Re:what's the problem? by klingens · · Score: 5, Informative

    I know this is /. but you should read the article before you comment.
    From the teaser of the article:
    "Apple said an unauthorized repair shop owner in Norway violated its trademark by using aftermarket iPhone parts"

    unauthorized repair shop, not apple licensed and blessed center.
    Considering how wrong you are in your first assertion, what makes you think that you are right in your 2nd one that they defrauded their own customers?

  5. Re:what's the problem? by msauve · · Score: 5, Informative

    "The shop agreed to be licensed as an Apple Authorized repair center."

    Authoritative source needed, because that's not at all what the article says. The article says it was an "independent" and "unauthorized" repair shop. It also says "PCKompaniet does not pretend or market itself as Apple authorized and does not give any indication that the repair comes with an Apple warranty.â

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  6. Re:what's the problem? by edtice1559 · · Score: 5, Informative

    How did this get modded up. It's like the first paragraph of the article that the is not an authorized repair shop, never claimed to be an authorized repair shop, and doens't want to be one. More importantly he imported refurbished Apple parts but never tried to sell them as OEM parts but a generic after-market parts.