Apple Files Lawsuit Against Teenager Who Sold White iPhone 4 Conversion Kits, Settlement Reached?

[toddybody]

Im so humbled to be surrounded by perfect people.

If any of you have acquired ANYTHING by non-legal means (shared music/movies)...youre a "thief".

If any of you have gone over the speed limit (by ANY amount), talked on the phone while driving (in applicable states)... you're a criminal.

Yes, he did a stupid and illegal thing. But, dont wave your banner of perfection while making his actions so black and white. If his family didnt have healthcare, and he used all the profits to treat his mother's cancer, would you still be so hypocritical?

His actions (though "wrong") were not harmful to anyone and only reflect poor judgement on himself.

Give the grace we all require...heaven knows ive far from perfect.

 

[benthewraith]

Getting free phone service is not even close to being the same thing as tarnishing a company's reputation.

Did Woz damage the phone company's ability to attract new customers with his trick? No.

Actually, it's the complete opposite.

The kid didn't damage Apple's reputation or impact sales at all. People were still required to purchase an iPhone 4 from Apple or third party to make the conversion. Whereas getting free phone service would impact profitability by rendering a service free.

In this case, Apple is still making money and the service the phone requires would still be paid to AT&T. Apple's stretched to prove damages and loss here. There is still the matter of theft here, however.

 

[chrono1081]

Simply a very successful scare tactic by Apple.

I'm sure Apple legal was going to have a field day with the Lams. The instant suit retraction was probably the work of Apple execs. These fellas don't want people to think they can get away with theft of both intellectual and physical properties, but they don't want to sue a teenager either. This scared the kid enough that he'll think twice before doing something like that again, and Apple probably walked away with a name or two at the FoxConn plant to put in the unemployment line.

Not to mention the swift hand of Asian family justice all we Asian kids grew up with.

I too think this was a deterrent tactic to scare the kid. If he had done this when he was older he could have been in some serious ****.

Not to mention it sends the message to others who may try this to not do it.

Not to mention EVERY company does this to protect intellectual property. It's only news because its Apple.

 

[noekozz]

Simple supply and demand. The kid wanted to make a quick buck and he went about it the wrong way.

I think who they should really go after is the source within Foxconn, but alas, like the failed "drug war" we had during the 80's, it's just the same crap, different toilet. Go after the weak instead of going after the big fish.

In that case, Apple should sue every other aftermarket conversion kit that exists out there.

Reminds me of how installous is shun down upon in the hack section, yet free tethering from Cydia w/o a plan is praised upon by some. Bunch of hypocrites.

 

[RalfTheDog]

Okay, so where are the police with criminal charges? If theft is theft that is not a civil matter, but a criminal one.

The DA dropped the ball and did not file criminal charges against the kid and his family. Yes, it is sad, these criminals are not going to prison. That is not an excuse for Apple not to protect their own property.

If someone were to break into your house and steal your electronics, then sell them and the local DA were not to file charges, that would not remove your moral responsibility to take them to civil court.

 

[PlipPlop]

I'd be interested to see what the settlement was - it may not be all bad for the kid (but probably is).

BTW @princealfie "Apple fanboyism is just as bad as Nazism."
I hope you're quoting an idiot here and that's not your actual belief, otherwise you are what we in the UK call "a pillock".

I think he meant to say "Apple fanboyism is worse than Nazism."

 

[tbrinkma]

That's what the suit was seeking. They also dismissed it, because they settled. I would assume he still had to forfeit all profits, but that's not necessarily what Apple settled for.

"With the request for dismissal, however, it is unclear what Apple may have obtained from the Lams in a potential settlement."

My guess is, the kid ratted out his suppliers, and Apple let him off "easy."

That would be my guess as well. He probably gave up the 'contact' who was supplying him with the parts. I'm putting odds on him getting to keep the profits though. Finding someone who is leaking parts is much more important to Apple than the pocket change (to Apple) the kid managed to bring in.

 

[Small White Car]

His actions (though "wrong") were not harmful to anyone and only reflect poor judgement on himself.

Actually, it's the complete opposite.

The kid didn't damage Apple's reputation or impact sales at all.

I totally disagree. How many of these phones are out there now? How poorly do the sensors perform? How much word-of-mouth spreads from these users?

ESPECIALLY now that there are real white iPhones out there so people who buy these phones may have no idea that they're conversions.

How did 'antennagate' start? By people complaining about the antenna. You can NOT deny that Apple's sales weren't affected by that. How many people are currently complainig about their proximity sensors to friends because of this guy?

He absolutely did harm to Apple's reputation.

 

[chrono1081]

Im so humbled to be surrounded by perfect people.

If any of you have acquired ANYTHING by non-legal means (shared music/movies)...youre a "thief".

If any of you have gone over the speed limit (by ANY amount), talked on the phone while driving (in applicable states)... you're a criminal.

Yes, he did a stupid and illegal thing. But, dont wave your banner of perfection while making his actions so black and white. If his family didnt have healthcare, and he used all the profits to treat his mother's cancer, would you still be so hypocritical?

His actions (though "wrong") were not harmful to anyone and only reflect poor judgement on himself.

Give the grace we all require...heaven knows ive far from perfect.

While I agree to an extent the reason I'm glad he was caught is because he is still young and can't be charged as an adult (hopefully). If he was making these things for a group of friends I'm sure it would have been no biggie but by making friends with people at the manufacturing plant and receiving stolen parts that kind of changes things. If he continued this type of practice he would be hit insanely hard later in life since buying stolen merchandise and reselling it results in hefty fines and in some places hefty jail time.

 

[abronbibly]

So to all the Lam-supporters out there.. What you're trying to say is...

If you owned a t-shirt website and a young kid named Lam shows up and befriends one of your employees with the intention to gain access to trademarked or licensed materials, you would let this happen?

You wouldn't stop this?

You would allow your employee to give your intellectual property away so someone else can make a profit on your materials?

I find that pretty hard to believe!

So if that's the case...

I personally would love to see you open a t-shirt website and sell some t-shirts with Apple's logo on it, you can even sell the signature blue Apple employee tees if you want too. Let's see how fast you're proven wrong by Apple!

The bottom line is simple - anyone who has responded in favor of Lam clearly does not know what it takes to run a successful business. I highly doubt any of you are actual business owners, if you were, you would understand the severity of the situation and why Apple had to do what they did to protect their brand.

Grow up please.. You're only wasting time and making yourself look ignorant!

 

[mack pro]

Apple's sueing teenagers now.

 

[Jazwire]

Maybe this did happen, Im not an expert on this case.

But a simple cease and desist from an Apple lawyer should have been step 1.

(And maybe it was, if Apple suing was step 1 then that was a ******** move Apple, and if the kid ignored a C&D then he was even dumber and he got what he deserved.)

 

[doctor-don]

This is stupid, Apple is stupid , I'm sorry but Apple is a huge company, and its not like they are not making good money, suing a teenager & parents is not the way to go =/, I could only imagine how hard it'll be on the parents and the teenager, I don't know how much Apple is suing for, but they won't be able to pay, they'll likely be out on the street?

Honestly who sues a teenager? this person is not an adult yet, not to mention the money they made the family likely already spent..

What an idiotic comment!

Apple, you suck!

Picking on a KID!

Who did something that YOU COULD NOT DO!

I now hate Apple!

What an idiotic comment!

This kid gets what he deserves. For all you guys coming down on Apple, he was STEALING from them. They did go easy on this kid.

How could he find a contact in China to do this?

He probably asked his cousin in China to contact his cousin at Foxconn.

Or maybe it was completely the other way around: The Foxconn thief asked his cousin for the name of a cousin in the U.S. who would be willing to sell stolen goods.

 

[toddybody]

He absolutely did harm to Apple's reputation.

No more harm than blind Apple followers like you do...

 

[chrono1081]

So to all the Lam-supporters out there.. What you're trying to say is...

If you owned a t-shirt website and a young kid named Lam shows up and befriends one of your employees with the intention to gain access to trademarked or licensed materials, you would let this happen?

You wouldn't stop this?

You would allow your employee to give your intellectual property away so someone else can make a profit on your materials?

I find that pretty hard to believe!

So if that's the case...

I personally would love to see you open a t-shirt website and sell some t-shirts with Apple's logo on it, you can even sell the signature blue Apple employee tees if you want too. Let's see how fast your proven wrong then!

The bottom line is simple - anyone who has responded in favor of Lam clearly does not know what it takes to run a successful business. I highly doubt any of you are actual business owners, if you were, you would understand the severity of the situation and why Apple had to do what they did to protect their brand.

Grow up please.. You're only wasting time and making yourself look ignorant!

I think the big problem is people see Apple as a big corporation that makes lots of money so they think its "ok to steal from the big guys" since thats an easy justification.

 

[Psychomacuser]

Stupid little SOB! He thought he could get away with it. I say FRY the parents + incarserate them for 20 years!

 

[Beaverfish]

I think apple have been a little harsh with this 1.

 

[Gasu E.]

If you read the article, he has to forfit ALL profits as well as pay a penalty

If you read the article CAREFULLY, it says the above was part of the suit, which was suspended; and the terms of the ACTUAL settlement are unknown.

 

[nwcs]

I wonder how many of the people defending this kid are people who bought those conversion kits or are friends? My guess is a high percentage. (edit: or are kids now out of school who steal software and torrent all the time and view the world with very skewed morals and ethics)

Apple is right, the teen is wrong. The right outcome occurred.

 

[Small White Car]

No more harm than blind Apple followers like you do...

Hmm, look at that. I'm still totally disagreeing with you.

 

[benthewraith]

I totally disagree. How many of these phones are out there now? How poorly do the sensors perform? How much word-of-mouth spreads from these users?

Fairly certain the market for converted iPhone 4's on Ebay are quite small.

ESPECIALLY now that there are real white iPhones out there so people who buy these phones may have no idea that they're conversions.

You mean a person buying a white iPhone from Apple may not know whether it's been converted or not? The guy sold an estimated 600 kits. Of the iPhones in the wild, that's not even close to 1%.

How did 'antennagate' start? By people complaining about the antenna. You can NOT deny that Apple's sales weren't affected by that. How many people are currently complainig about their proximity sensors to friends because of this guy?

The proximity sensors and antennas are already bad enough. Last I recall, there were additional sensors on the Apple-manufactured white iPhone 4.

He absolutely did harm to Apple's reputation.

Apple did damage to its own reputation by selling phones with shoddy antennas in the first place.

 

[gmcalpin]

I think who they should really go after is the source within Foxconn, but alas, like the failed "drug war" we had during the 80's, it's just the same crap, different toilet. Go after the weak instead of going after the big fish.

Did you read the whole article? Or even the whole headline? The kid settled. And I would bet revealing his source was prooooobably part of that settlement.

 

[mmcxiiad]

Let me see if I understand this:

1. He sold parts that he illegally obtained.

2. The parts were trademarked and had a company logo.

3. He made $130,000 from those sales parts.

I fail to see where the teenager is justified in his actions.

What if he stole products of that value from a hospital, an orphanage or you?

What if it was your identity and profited on your good name?

the problem here, is stealing is stealing. It would be different if there was true plausible deniability - " gosh, I didn't know I couldn't do this". But let's be real, he acquired parts from someone overseas, the parts came from the same location that made the iPhone. Anyone with half an once of common sense would realize what the risks were.

And what about the parents? Did they not realize he came into a LOT of money? There must have been red flags. Or maybe they supported this, but somewhere, someone had to know that this wasn't all on the up and up. I can't believe that no one at some point said "don't get caught".

Ultimately though, Apple HAD to go after this kid with it's full resources for two reasons:

1. When you have patents and trademarks you have to defend them. They can't pick and choose when they will and when won't. If they didn't defend them, it would be a sign to the courts that they don't take them seriously anymore.

2. Going after the teenager was the first step in going after the bigger fish - the person who sold him the parts.

The truth is this settled out of court, most likely with a non-disclosure clause. Typically when you settle, the fee is lower. So unless someone has that info, which I highly doubt anyone not invalid will see, we don't truly know what the final terms were.

 

[RalfTheDog]

Im so humbled to be surrounded by perfect people.

If any of you have acquired ANYTHING by non-legal means (shared music/movies)...youre a "thief".

If any of you have gone over the speed limit (by ANY amount), talked on the phone while driving (in applicable states)... you're a criminal.

Those are misdemeanors. The acts the kid committed were felonies. It is the difference between dropping a gum wrapper on the street and murder.

Yes, he did a stupid and illegal thing. But, dont wave your banner of perfection while making his actions so black and white. If his family didnt have healthcare, and he used all the profits to treat his mother's cancer, would you still be so hypocritical?

His actions (though "wrong") were not harmful to anyone and only reflect poor judgement on himself.

Give the grace we all require...heaven knows ive far from perfect.

He purchased stolen goods, then resold them. He did so across international lines. He damaged Apple's reputation by selling defective parts labeled with the Apple logo. He did harm to Apple and the people who purchased the parts.

 

[farmermac]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; fr-fr) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

I don't know how anyone could be dumb enough NOT to assume any corporation would come down hard if you were selling stolen parts so openly. Apple pretty much has to do what they did otherwise next time an unreleased leak happens it will 10x worse.