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DHS Seized Aftermarket Apple Laptop Batteries From Independent Repair Expert (vice.com)
Louis Rossmann says US Customs and Border Patrol seized $1,000 worth of laptop batteries, claiming they were counterfeit. From a report: Earlier this year, Louis Rossmann, the highest-profile iPhone and Mac repair professional in the United States, told Motherboard that determining "the difference between counterfeiting and refurbishing is going to be the next big battle" between the independent repair profession and Apple. At the time, his friend and fellow independent repair pro, Jessa Jones, had just had a shipment of iPhone screens seized by Customs and Border Patrol. Rossmann was right: His repair parts were also just seized by the US government.
Last month, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized a package containing 20 Apple laptop batteries en route to Rossman's store in New York City. The laptop batteries were en route from China to Rossmann Repair Group -- a NYC based repair store that specializes in Apple products. "Apple and customs seized batteries to a computer that, at [the Apple Store], they no longer service because they claim it's vintage," Rossmann, the owner and operator of Rossmann Repair Group, said in a YouTube video. "They will not allow me to replace batteries, because when I import batteries that are original they'll tell me the they're counterfeit and have them stolen from by [CBP]." CBP seized the batteries on September 6, then notified Rossmann via a letter dated October 5. Rossmann produced the letter in its entirety in his video.
Last month, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized a package containing 20 Apple laptop batteries en route to Rossman's store in New York City. The laptop batteries were en route from China to Rossmann Repair Group -- a NYC based repair store that specializes in Apple products. "Apple and customs seized batteries to a computer that, at [the Apple Store], they no longer service because they claim it's vintage," Rossmann, the owner and operator of Rossmann Repair Group, said in a YouTube video. "They will not allow me to replace batteries, because when I import batteries that are original they'll tell me the they're counterfeit and have them stolen from by [CBP]." CBP seized the batteries on September 6, then notified Rossmann via a letter dated October 5. Rossmann produced the letter in its entirety in his video.
And Customs overreaching their authority.
These are legitimate replacement batteries. Not knockoffs. Taxes paid. Not Customs job. Not DHS job.
Or you could stop buying illegal products... but that doesn't fit the "Evil Big Corporation" narrative.
An important detail about Apple batteries is that they have the Apple logo on them, and that's precisely why they were seized, as explained in the letter in TFA. They may have come from the same manufacturer as actual Apple batteries, or even been part of a batch made under an Apple contract with Apple designs, but they still have the Apple logo on them. Since Rossmann isn't buying the batteries (even indirectly) from Apple, nor is he himself allowed to use the Apple logo, it's indeed illegal to use the Apple logo on them. That's precisely the purpose of a trademark: to identify that a product came from a particular vendor.
Now, the Chinese manufacturer could have relabeled the batteries with their own logo, and said they're "compatible with Apple" (or similar wording), and everything would have been legal, and Apple would still be equally unhappy. Since they didn't actually do that, it's an illegal use of the mark.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
They are not counterfeit. There is a growing market in China of refurbishing old hardware. Essentially taking old and broken Macbooks and either repairing them or parting them out and reselling the components. This includes batteries.
The batteries he had purchased were refurbs taken from old Macbooks.
Not counterfeit.
The term commonly used for vintage car parts is "new old stock" (NOS).
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
The principle is "first sale." Once Apple has sold it, then the buyer owns it and can resell it.
If they're being produced on contract, and the contract ended and they have surplus units that have never been sold, those are "counterfeits" if they make their way to the market "somehow." What matters is when the rights holder sells the item.
The trademark doesn't tell you what factory it came from, it tells you which company placed it on the market.
Worrying about if it is functionally the same, that is a concern for fungible goods, not branded goods that trade on their mark.
The real problem with the story is the lack of clear facts about what the items really were; new or used.
Even "new old stock" is only legit if it was sold to a distributor who then warehoused it. It has to have been sold legitimately at some point to still be legit now. But once it was sold, they can warehouse it as long as they want.