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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.
Companies like Apple use "intellectual property" laws to circumvent prohibitions on tying.
It's illegal to require me to buy my battery from Apple just because I bought my computer from them.
And what's happening here is even worse: trying to make it illegal for anyone to sell batteries for computers Apple wants their customers to replace.
Easier, don't buy Apple (or other manufacturers) that pull this kind of stuff with products they sell to consumers, by pushing mandatory obsolescence.
This is the free market. It will correct.
What color is the sky on your fucking planet? Because it sure as shit isn't blue.
This is overweening government using rules created by regulatory capture to protect powerful entrenched interests.
It's most assuredly not anything close to being free market.
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.
Exactly. Buying second hand goods should be illegal. It is the same as stealing from the benevolent companies that make it possible to buy anything in the first place. You shouldn't be able to fix your own car, change your own oil, or pump your own gas from a third party vendor. You should do everything at the dealership, using the trained, honest and fairly priced personnel available there. Or go to jail.