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.

Comments

Second reason not to buy Apple

[DarkRookie2]

You can't repair them
Same with Microsoft.
Same with Amazon
Same with all phone manufactures
Same with consumer laptops. (You can generally repair desktops and business laptops.)

Apple sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Rossmann group recovered data from an iPhone my wife dropped in the water. Of course Apple was unwilling to help me, but Louis was! It's insanity to think that a product you purchase can be held hostage by a company for the entire time you "own" it. I'm done with Apple. They suck, a cancer in the tech arena. Tech is beginning to suck everywhere because of this type of bull$h1t. It's time for me to purchase a new car and I am actually considering purchasing a 1960's to 70's vintage restored vehicle to avoid all the nasty tech involved .. and I'm a IT professional!

Re:CBP can claim whatever they want on imports

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, bullshit.

Everything is branded. If I pack too much on vacation and ship some stuff home to avoid too overstuffed luggage, my Hanes(tm) branded underwear and Nike (or whatever) socks are going to be intercepted and confiscated because I don't have a license with every company who's clothes I own? Oh CRAP! My luggage has some kind of brand name, I better hide! LOL

Re:Lawyer up.

[Aighearach]

For items manufactured in the US, the manufacturer is open to liability if they hurt somebody.

For imported items, the importer is the one who is open to liability if they hurt somebody. That's Mr Rossmann in this case, not Apple.

Thanks for throwing shit at the wall declaratively, though.

Re:CBP can claim whatever they want on imports

[BLToday]

You could go into a Gucci store in Italy, buy 10 bags and ship it to yourself, CBP will stop that shipment and claim itâ(TM)s counterfeit even if you show the original receipt.

I call BS on this one.

it would seem that it MATTERS if you mail to yourself for personal use or to yourself as a business, with intent for resale.

personal use is what seems to be the thing that breaks your assertion. can you cite that even personal use would mean the good you mailed to yourself are considered counterfeit?

similarly, your link talked about greymarket and many of us regularly buy (or bought) cameras that were greymarket and they most certainly did make it to BH, adorama, etc - and are not stopped at the border.

so, I call BS on this. personal use is OK and greymarket is NOT automatically illegal. Nikon would like to think so (and that's why I stopped supporting nikon) but its not ILLEGAL to import or sell greymarket goods, as long as its marked as such (ie, no US warranty or local post-sales support from the US support org)

You're welcome to try mailing 10 Gucci bags to yourself for personal use if you don't believe me. Hell, you don't even have to mail it to yourself. Just try to land in LAX with more than 5 new Italian bags. Even if you declared it and paid the duty on it, they're going to give you a hard time. I've had a friend had a box of returned merchandise get seized at LAX. His friend had a thrift store in some Asian country, bought items from here, but couldn't sell it and had him bring it back to be returned to the manufacturers here. Fully documentation on the shipment, CBP claimed that he intended to sell counterfeit merchandise and confiscated the items.

One of my ex-gf does graymarket import/export for a living. Generally depending on the port of entry and port of departure, you have 1% to 10% chance of inspection. If you're unlucky and your shipment gets inspected, you better have a license from the trademark holder for that shipment. What probably happened is Apple complained to CBP and Rossman's shipment was flagged for inspection. If it has an Apple trademarking on it and he didn't have a license from Apple to import, then his shipment is going to get seized.