Apple Files $2M+ Lawsuit Against Counterfeiter, Finds 90% of 'Genuine' Accessories on Amazon Are Knockoffs

[yanksfan114]

That is the problem though, this was an "Apple" branded charger, sold under the Apple listing page on Amazon, shipped by Amazon, but provided by a 3rd party seller.

I meant buying directly from the source

 

[cmwade77]

Samsung also invented fire.

I still wonder how many note 7s were being charged with counterfeit or cheap third party accessories and if that was part of the problem.

 

[Chones cajones]

I think it's awesome that Apple is spending the time and money to protect users from faulty third-party products. They're not required to do so even though it's a good idea to protect the ecosystem.

Well, it's not like they're doing it for the consumer's benefit. Counterfeit products branded as their own that either just stop working or go up in flames damage the company's reputation. The last thing Apple want is consumers thinking their products are unreliable.

 

[cmwade77]

In general yes, but I have original chargers for MBPs and they get extremely hot when charging, same as one NON OEM from eBay.
All other Apple chargers I had over the years were also never well made. Even had one short out with a small fire spark. Luckily I was present. Apple's review page shows tons of complaints about their chargers.

As for the complaints about cables, I agree. Their cables always break where the cable comes out of the plug.
Especially the 30 pin was always weak. Normal use, just plugging in and unplugging (Or should I have kept the able in the box?)

Bought a lightning cable for my iPhone 6+ from OWC which has held up well so far.
Cable has a strong fabric casing. Don't remember the manufacturer.

I actually have on non OEM Macbook charger from Amazon and it stays cool no matter what.

 

[Atomic Walrus]

It seems like Apple should sue Amazon if Amazon is allowing these sellers to pretend that they're official Apple products.

That is the problem though, this was an "Apple" branded charger, sold under the Apple listing page on Amazon, shipped by Amazon, but provided by a 3rd party seller.

Lesson from this - when buying online buy Apple branded from Apple, buy TRUSTED 3rd party branded from Amazon, Best Buy, etc.

There's something confusing about this which needs to be cleared up:

-The article says that the counterfeit items were sold under the "Fullfilled by Amazon" program, which means that Amazon.com, LLC was not the actual seller (and everyone should know that 3rd party sellers are commonly selling knockoffs).

-The pictures in the article show the items as "shipped and sold by Amazon.com" which means that Amazon.com, LLC is the actual seller. This is not the same as FBA.

So what's actually going on here? Were the counterfeits only sold under FBA by the 3rd party seller and the image simply doesn't show that because they've already been banned, or have people been receiving counterfeits in "sold by Amazon.com" purchases as well?

The first case is frustrating, but expected. The second would suggest that Amazon is engaged in selling counterfeit items itself, which sounds unlikely but not impossible.

 

[Eldiablojoe]

Anyone know who is behind or owns Mobile Star LLC and where they are based? I don't have a D&B subscription anymore.

 

[Mr Fusion]

Not trying to be a troll, but I've had to replace 2 MagSafe 2 adapters.. both burned, 1 was actually on fire (I noticed it wasn't charging and then I look down to a flame). So who's suing who now? (Look at how thin the wire is from the power brick to the MagSafe port, vs the power plug itself).

Which is why I'm pleased MagSafe will most likely disappear with the introduction of new MacBook Pro's shortly. Overpriced, poorly designed. Give me USB-C any day.

As far as the subject matter goes, I'm glad Apple targets these third party fakes. However I agree with others in saying Amazon & eBay should take a larger role in preventing these "stores" from making it to their websites in the first place.

 

[MH01]

By purchasing from legitimate distributors that are authorized to sell the items they are interested in buying.

In which case it ceases to be a marketplace?

 

[muadibe]

The knock-offs from overseas are getting out of control on Amazon. It has become increasingly harder to know if I'm buying an authentic product until it shows up at my door looking like a 5 year old created the product.

I ended up cancelling my Prime membership last month for this very reason. Over the year I'd ordered so many items which were defective or not working, they actually sent an email asking if there was a problem. That pissed me off even more as I always specify what the problem is when I return an item. Politely told them if they want fewer returns they should stop sending people garbage.

Since I don't find their video offering compelling - Man in the High Castle an exception - and I don't use their music service, it just wasn't worth it. The quality of their products has really declined. I imagine it will only get worse. Will be ordering directly from manufacturers where possible.

 

[StevieD100]

I think it's awesome that Apple is spending the time and money to protect users from faulty third-party products. They're not required to do so even though it's a good idea to protect the ecosystem.

If they don't do this then they have issues when Apple get sued for Faulty products even though they are counterfit.
They have to protect their trademark and copyright.

I saw one report a few months ago that almost 50% of the 'stuff' coming out of China was a knockoff.

 

[digweed014]

Does Macrumors have a copy of the complaint? I'd be curious to read it. Thanks.

 

[MH01]

I still wonder how many note 7s were being charged with counterfeit or cheap third party accessories and if that was part of the problem.

For samsung to have recalled and ended the device, the problem was with the said device. Im sure at first samsung would have looked into weather 3rd party accessories might be causing the issue

 

[monty77]

I ended up cancelling my Prime membership last month for this very reason. Over the year I'd ordered so many items which were defective or not working, they actually sent an email asking if there was a problem. That pissed me off even more as I always specify what the problem is when I return an item. Politely told them if they want fewer returns they should stop sending people garbage.

Since I don't find their video offering compelling - Man in the High Castle an exception - and I don't use their music service, it just wasn't worth it. The quality of their products has really declined. I imagine it will only get worse. Will be ordering directly from manufacturers where possible.

I got one of those emails too, didn't care for the tone and like you always explain very clearly why I'm returning an item.

 

[vpndev]

About damn time. I have complained to Amazon about obviously counterfeit "genuine Apple" products and they blew me off.

Apple should sue Amazon directly. With the size of Amazon's operation now, it's not as though Amazon doesn't have the ability to force compliance. It's just that they lack the motivation.

A lawsuit from Apple could provide plenty of that.

 

[GoodWheaties]

Huh. I wonder if I have been buying my parents knockoffs then. They seem to constantly have trouble with MagSafe chargers.

 

[rGiskard]

Apple are prepping for their future business in adapter dongles. All Macs will soon be USB-C so there's about $100 in dongles per Mac. No headphone jack on the iPhone has already jacked dongle sales.

It's all Apple's got left. They can't innovate, they can't even beat their competitors, so they engage in dongle harassment upon their customers..

 

[vpndev]

Yeah because Amazon is going to verify every single product to check if it's official.

They don't have to. They just have to get the vendors to certify that they're official, original. Then if there are complaints, the vendor gets cut off and charged back.

Simple. Works all the time.

 

[citysnaps]

"Over the last nine months, Apple, as part of its ongoing brand protection efforts, has purchased well over 100 iPhone devices, Apple power products, and Lightning cables sold as genuine by sellers on Amazon.com and delivered through Amazon’s “Fulfillment by Amazon” program. Apple’s internal examination and testing for these products revealed almost 90% of these products are counterfeit."

90% knockoffs? Which are potentially dangerous? Wow!

Sounds like Amazon isn't doing its part and needs to step up. Big time. If I were Apple I'd bring much more pressure upon Amazon to curb this situation.

 

[jdillings]

There's something confusing about this which needs to be cleared up:

-The article says that the counterfeit items were sold under the "Fullfilled by Amazon" program, which means that Amazon.com, LLC was not the actual seller (and everyone should know that 3rd party sellers are commonly selling knockoffs).

-The pictures in the article show the items as "shipped and sold by Amazon.com" which means that Amazon.com, LLC is the actual seller. This is not the same as FBA.

So what's actually going on here? Were the counterfeits only sold under FBA by the 3rd party seller and the image simply doesn't show that because they've already been banned, or have people been receiving counterfeits in "sold by Amazon.com" purchases as well?

The images come from Apple's court filling. For information on what's going on, look at my post in this thread. Amazon has for some time been intermixing 3rd party product with their own. So even if you buy "shipped and sold by Amazon.com" you could be getting 3rd party product that is possibly counterfeit. In this case, Apple purchased the product from Amazon and, as shown in the court filing, it said "shipped and sold by Amazon.com" and they received the counterfeit Mobile Star product.

 

[\-V-/]

It seems like Apple should sue Amazon if Amazon is allowing these sellers to pretend that they're official Apple products.

So much this. I'm getting so tired of fake crap on Amazon. Amazon really needs to look into this.

 

[JackieInCo]

I use them when they're plugged in.

That seems to be the problem. If they bend the wrong way, the plastic will crack. I've been using this cable for the past year like this. I refuse to replace it till it stops working. This is about the third cable I've had crack like this in about three years.

 

[Tycho24]

It seems like Apple should sue Amazon if Amazon is allowing these sellers to pretend that they're official Apple products.

Lol, wut?!

You make my head hurt.
I suppose if someone listed a counterfeit product on eBay as real as well, you'd want eBay to pay, rather than.... ya know, the person that actually committed the crime????!!!

Do you have some weird vendetta against Amazon??
Why would you want them punished & actual perpetrator to get off scott-free?

*genuinely confused*

 

[NoNothing]

Yeah because Amazon is going to verify every single product to check if it's official.

They make %30 off each one sold. They should do some minimal vetting. They do nothing and have turned into a cesspool of vendors.

 

[sarge]

There's something confusing about this which needs to be cleared up:

-The article says that the counterfeit items were sold under the "Fullfilled by Amazon" program, which means that Amazon.com, LLC was not the actual seller (and everyone should know that 3rd party sellers are commonly selling knockoffs).

-The pictures in the article show the items as "shipped and sold by Amazon.com" which means that Amazon.com, LLC is the actual seller. This is not the same as FBA.

So what's actually going on here? Were the counterfeits only sold under FBA by the 3rd party seller and the image simply doesn't show that because they've already been banned, or have people been receiving counterfeits in "sold by Amazon.com" purchases as well?

The first case is frustrating, but expected. The second would suggest that Amazon is engaged in selling counterfeit items itself, which sounds unlikely but not impossible.

Les and less unlikely:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...lexes-the-real-money-is-in-fake-ball-bearings
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/08/amazons-chinese-counterfeit-problem-is-getting-worse.html

Until something is done at the state level to clamp down on fraudulent kleptocracy that exists in the worlds second largest (soon to be largest) economy, there is no stopping this.

 

[odditie]

There's something confusing about this which needs to be cleared up:

-The article says that the counterfeit items were sold under the "Fullfilled by Amazon" program, which means that Amazon.com, LLC was not the actual seller (and everyone should know that 3rd party sellers are commonly selling knockoffs).

-The pictures in the article show the items as "shipped and sold by Amazon.com" which means that Amazon.com, LLC is the actual seller. This is not the same as FBA.

So what's actually going on here? Were the counterfeits only sold under FBA by the 3rd party seller and the image simply doesn't show that because they've already been banned, or have people been receiving counterfeits in "sold by Amazon.com" purchases as well?

The first case is frustrating, but expected. The second would suggest that Amazon is engaged in selling counterfeit items itself, which sounds unlikely but not impossible.

Right, it's not just a problem with Apple stuff, it's a problem with ink/toner and anything that can easily be ripped off to appear to be the actual thing. My point is it's better to buy Apple branded directly from Apple or if you want to buy a third party branded version you can buy those from Amazon or other online retailers. Those are not what is being counterfeited (as far as I know) so they should be something you can trust from those sites.

I bought the Amazon Basics lightning cables for this very reason. I know what I'm getting. Unlike the time my co-worker talked me into buying some "Apple" lightning cables that came in a zip lock bag from some random website.