Apple don't OWE you a white cellphone. You don't have a right to a white iPhone, unless you build it yourself. Judging from comments like this, I don't think you're smart enough.
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Apple Files Lawsuit Against Teenager Who Sold White iPhone 4 Conversion Kits, Settlement Reached?
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Apple don't OWE you a white cellphone. You don't have a right to a white iPhone, unless you build it yourself. Judging from comments like this, I don't think you're smart enough.
No he didn't.
Apple couldn't sell a white iPhone that worked right. Theirs were defective.
This kid couldn't sell a white iPhone that worked right. His were defective.
Same thing!
Some people.......
To those of you who are saying,
"..... Apple is wrong for going after a teenager..."
".....poor kid...."
".....I hope they go after all companies who produce iPhone parts..."
Etc...
1. Apple HAD to do this, it's part of defending your brand, legally. If they didn't, it would set a really bad, legal precedence that could further harm and dilute their brand.
2. Please don't think that the punishment put forth in the suit is set in stone. There are settlements to be had; how would you feel if they settled on just giving up the profits he made? I'm sure that's on the table.
3. This kid did not produce anything; purportedly, he received these from a foxcom employee, this is theft on both ends of that coin.
4. Really, the white iPhone would not exist if it wasn't for this kid? You're mad at apple for dangling the white iPhone like a carrot..... Grow up, it's called patience. You're probably the same people who would have cried the sky is falling if the white iPhone had any sort of manufacturing defect.
It's not even about "theft is theft", "do the crime, pay the time" or anything else like that (although those are good reasons), it's about what a large company needs to do legally to protect their brand. It has nothing to do with the age of the individual that committed the crime or the fact that, as a minor, his parents are legally held responsible. It's about protecting your company, all the people who work for it and all the suppliers who are involved.
I suspect, foxcom may be replaced sometime soon, there have been quite a few mess-ups.
To those of you who are saying,
"..... Apple is wrong for going after a teenager..."
".....poor kid...."
".....I hope they go after all companies who produce iPhone parts..."
Etc...
1. Apple HAD to do this, it's part of defending your brand, legally. If they didn't, it would set a really bad, legal precedence that could further harm and dilute their brand.
2. Please don't think that the punishment put forth in the suit is set in stone. There are settlements to be had; how would you feel if they settled on just giving up the profits he made? I'm sure that's on the table.
3. This kid did not produce anything; purportedly, he received these from a foxcom employee, this is theft on both ends of that coin.
4. Really, the white iPhone would not exist if it wasn't for this kid? You're mad at apple for dangling the white iPhone like a carrot..... Grow up, it's called patience. You're probably the same people who would have cried the sky is falling if the white iPhone had any sort of manufacturing defect.
It's not even about "theft is theft", "do the crime, pay the time" or anything else like that (although those are good reasons), it's about what a large company needs to do legally to protect their brand. It has nothing to do with the age of the individual that committed the crime or the fact that, as a minor, his parents are legally held responsible. It's about protecting your company, all the people who work for it and all the suppliers who are involved.
I suspect, foxcom may be replaced sometime soon, there have been quite a few mess-ups.
+1 Not to mention isn't it better to get life lessons like this out of the way before he can be tried as an adult? I think it is...
If he were to have done this as an adult he could be looking at some serious jail time. I'm no law expert but I frequently watch court trials and there are many times where people who commit crimes like this sadly end up with more jail time than violent criminals.
I seem to recall a certain Apple employee... he might be some higher up now I wouldn't know, that was involved in the production of a certain box a few years ago. This box enabled certain users to... how shall we say, get a service for free that one would ordinarily pay for. Now I cannot remember the Apple employee's name... it's on the tip of the tongue. If anyone could help me out here... drawing a blank, Steve Ballmer maybe? No, he's Microsoft. Steve Gates? No, that's not it. Drawing a blank here, someone please help me out.
I work with Chinese manufacturers every day. If the materials produced are patented, the factory is not allowed to reproduce them for anyone else except the patent holder and cannot sell the parts.
It's a stupid kid that made a profit from illegally obtained, patented parts and Apple is going to make an example out of him to prevent anyone else from doing it in the future.
It's a stupid kid that made a profit from illegally obtained, patented parts and Apple is going to make an example out of him to prevent anyone else from doing it in the future.
If you read the article, he has to forfit ALL profits as well as pay a penalty
forfeit
Douche move? What is YOUR illegal business?
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS.
None WAS spared. Please get an education.
hacker crowd? More criminal behavior that WE have to support with the high prices for our electronics.
TOTAL Bull!
AMEN!
This is stupid, Apple is stupid
Honestly who sues a teenager? this person is not an adult yet, not to mention the money they made the family likely already spent..
Why do you think they make good money? Maybe something to do with protecting their IP, making good business decisions, ensuring high quality of their products?
Why should we ignore him just because he's a teenager? Staggeringly naive. He's not going to jail, his life is not over. But he'll think damned hard before striking up business relationships with criminals and fencing stolen property again.
I seem to recall a certain Apple employee... he might be some higher up now I wouldn't know, that was involved in the production of a certain box a few years ago. This box enabled certain users to... how shall we say, get a service for free that one would ordinarily pay for. Now I cannot remember the Apple employee's name... it's on the tip of the tongue. If anyone could help me out here... drawing a blank, Steve Ballmer maybe? No, he's Microsoft. Steve Gates? No, that's not it. Drawing a blank here, someone please help me out.
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.
I never understand why people equate Apple with a "great/good marketing company". Remember, the hype that surrounds much of Apple's products is not primarily instigated by Apple itself but rather by its fans and also the fact that it makes a lot of revolutionary moves and that its products work for the most part.
Tech companies that actually do a lot more marketing are like RIM (look at their Playbook hype), Microsoft (look at its Zune announcements and Windows announcements), HP, Acer, etc.
Apple by far does very little to hype up its products.
I think a lot of people, yourself included, is conflating popularity of products and popularity of a company with hype. Those things don't mean the same. Popularity does not necessarily come through hype.
Exactly. He was smart, enterprising, shady. He infiltrated the Apple supply chain. Steve Jobs should give him a red lightsaber, and make the kid follow him around calling him master as he chokes the light out of interns.
Why does he deserve it? Teenagers make mistakes, he's not an adult, not to mention he only made a profit of $130,000? How much does Apple make? I mean this had little or no effect on Apple, as a punishment what should have been done is he should have been taken to a juvenile camp for teenagers as punishment..
Okay, so where are the police with criminal charges? If theft is theft that is not a civil matter, but a criminal one.
Wow. Thats a great move. Thank you Apple for going agaist this criminal. By the way, file a lawsuit against Woz for buying parts from him. Now that is all good again, lets bash Lodsys for going against poor poor developers.
The one thing that makes me angry, more than using Windows, is the Apple fanboys. Apple farts they smell mint.
The one thing that makes me angry, more than using Windows, is the Apple fanboys. Apple farts they smell mint.
1. Foxconn has no right selling these parts, so even if you buy them from Foxconn, they are still stolen goods.
2. He didn't buy from Foxconn. He bought from a Foxconn employee. Most likely now a Foxconn ex-employee.
Difficult to prosecute, since the actual crime happened in China. Apple would have to go to the police in China, which then would have to ask for an extradition, and worst case he would end up in jail in China. On the other hand, Chinese police probably have higher priorities. If someone stole 100 iPads from an Apple Store in Germany, then sold them to an American who takes them in two suitcases to New York and sells them, Apple in the USA would have a hard time getting him convicted. However, the factory employee who stole the items could be in trouble.
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Is that a brick in his shorts?
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.
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 don't believe Foxconn did anything wrong, they need to go after the guy who was stealing the parts (i.e. the guy who was actually taking parts from Foxconn).
Apple would have to complain to make this happen. They decided to go as easy as they could on the kid and do the minimum needed to stop him.
Amazing how people are still critisizing Apple for being mean even though they're being as gentle as they possibly can.
Like this guy. So, what? I should be mad at Apple that they were as nice as possible? Is that what you're telling me?
I have to side with Apple on this, I doubt they required the kid and his parents to pay back any more than what they made from the kits, I think Apple just wants to keep people from trying to do this kind of thing again. If the kid somehow made the parts himself, then I would have something against Apple's actions, but to obtain them illegally is not an activity the kid should be participating in anyway.
Um... that's not how the law works.
You need a deterrent for others from doing this again. You need the punishment to fit the crime, not the damage done to someone else. If I steal £1m from someone with £2m in the bank, it's no more serious a crime than stealing it from someone with £200m. I still stole £1m. This guy stole, or was part of a racket that stole, Apple's property and sold it for a profit. Again, I don;t think you'd be quite so quick to forgive the 'teenager' if he stole your car, or your TV, or your macbook.