Apple Lost Lawsuit Against Independent iPhone Repair Shop in Norway Over Unauthorized Parts

[Sedulous]

Technology is all about compromises - this is understood. In the search of reliability and miniaturization we have had to give up the ability to 'repair' because these devices aren't serviceable without specialised equipment and parts. Even the term repair is inaccurate - we're talking about replacing half of the device and reassembly means the 'repair' has compromised fundamental features of the construction, like water/dust-proofing.

As an American living in Norway, I can say the issue isn't about repair, it is about warranty. Norway, and many other European countries, require by law good warranty periods, running from 3-5 years for electronics. AppleCare in Norway is actually redundant. The US should require similar warranty periods for electronics.
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Of course this highlights the issue of how does a regular person judge the repair facility? This is where authorised service centres come into play. But the issue remains - your fault - doesn't really work. Apple is left dealing with a customer made unhappy by their own choice or accident. Customer Satisfaction is lowered, Value diminished.

Absolutely wrong about repairs. There are genuinely talented repair services that do specifically find what is damaged and replace only what needs to be replaced. Whether that means a single transistor soldered to board or an entire display, they can do the repair, reassemble the item AND replace the waterproof sealing adhesive. Apple intentionally makes the entire process more difficult than need be by actively denying parts, documentation, and (of course) harassing services that offer to do this work. “Apple Authorized” repair shops cannot offer much actual repair because Apple limits their services to simple repairs or outright replacement. How can a regular person judge repair facility? There are direct ways such as warranties and does service actually achieve results. In this day there are plenty of other sources such as reviews.

Repairs by Apple are no guarantee either. I have had them replace battery in an old MacBook Pro. It came back with a big scratch on the casing. I also noticed strange sound from inside, seemed like something was loose and immediately asked them about it at store. They took it in back of store and “fixed” whatever was loose. Months later I got brave and opened up case and found they had snapped off one of the brackets that holds RAM modules. Nice job Apple. More recently I had them replace a Retina display on a MacBook Pro (delamination). It came back and looked nice... except now it would periodically randomly kernel panic. Somehow the soldered-in RAM had gone bad. Apple straight up refused to take responsibility. The display again had delamination issues and was serviced. This time they damaged something with the power because when I got home and put it on MagSafe, it no longer would charge. This time of course they had to repair power issue.

The point is that there is no certainty about quality of repair outside of past performance. Does Apple always get it right? No. Are third party repair shops infallible? No. As long as they stand behind their service and offer reasonable warranty that is all that matters. If a third party shop routinely fails to repair, they will likely not remain in business whereas Apple can absorb the cost.

As for losing repairability due to “miniaturization” I cannot fully agree. Apple makes engineering decisions that intentionally make repairs more difficult. Soldered storage, RAM, WiFi/Bluetooth module offers no real benefit because those parts still occupy space on the logic board, soldered or not. But what it does do is ensure Apple can charge insanely high premiums for these things and ensure they cannot be upgraded (aka planned obsolescence).

 

[trillionaire]

I don't see how this is any different from third-party parts for cars. Of course I'm going to want to save a few bucks if I can. Usually these parts are manufactured by the same companies that build parts for said company, they simply don't use the logo and get around copyright laws somehow. Since they already know the technology they can easily reproduce it with a very slight change so that it doesn't infringe on anything.

I don't think options should ever be a bad thing. If I want to run the risk of getting an incompatible part put into my phone after I have bought it then that's my decision to make. I'm guessing that a lot of the warranties for these phones are null and void so why not look for cheaper alternatives.

 

[alowe]

"Apple does not want its iPhones and other devices repaired because such repairs can void a device's warranty."

It is also the only option for people who have devices that Apple refuse to repair or are charging $$$$s to fix a faulty wire. This article could therefore have been more fairly written.

 

[JPack]

Technology is all about compromises - this is understood. In the search of reliability and miniaturization we have had to give up the ability to 'repair' because these devices aren't serviceable without specialised equipment and parts. Even the term repair is inaccurate - we're talking about replacing half of the device and reassembly means the 'repair' has compromised fundamental features of the construction, like water/dust-proofing.

Don't be silly. Apple Store technicians can replace the rear camera, display, and battery without specialized equipment. These technicians are trained using only videos and slide decks.

 

[lacek]

Can’t believe some people would not mind having counterfeit parts.

Actually most of these parts are scrapped original parts, or simple things like cables, connectors. THing is that Apple does not give you option to replace individual parts often insisting of replacing entire device (in case of iPhone) or entire logic board (in case of a Mac) with all CPUs, RAM soldered on even if this can be avoided. This can raise the cost of the repair from replacement of a single cable to say $750.

And if you need your data preserved they there is NO option for that in Apple Authorized World.

 

[stottmj]

Apple last year sued an aftermarket repair shop in Norway, accusing the owner, Henrik Huseby of infringing on Apple's trademarks by using non-genuine aftermarket repair parts.

Details on the lawsuit were shared today by Motherboard, a site that has been covering "Right to Repair" efforts in the United States.

Apple started out by sending Huseby a letter demanding that he stop using aftermarket displays to repair broken devices after Norwegian customs officials seized iPhone 6 and 6s replacement screens that were addressed to him and discovered they were counterfeit.

Image via iFixit​

Huseby had ordered the screens, which were "refurbished screens assembled by a third party" from Hong Kong. The displays were refurbished using genuine broken iPhone components.

Apple wanted Huseby to destroy the counterfeit displays, pay a fine of about $3566, and sign an agreement not to manufacture, import, sell, or otherwise "deal with any products that infringe Apple's trademarks." Huseby decided he would not sign Apple's settlement, instead deciding to fight it, leading Apple to sue him.

According to Norwegian news sites, Apple had five lawyers working on the case against Huseby, but he ultimately won when the court sided with him. Apple appealed the decision and Huseby is waiting to hear whether or not a court will accept the appeal.

"They threw all kinds of claims against me and told me the laws and acted so friendly and just wanted me to sign the letter so it would all be over," Huseby told Motherboard. I had a good lawyer that completely understood the problem, did good research, and read the law correctly."

As Motherboard points out, while the specifics of the legal case will only be relevant to Norway, the lawsuit should be of interest to other independent repair shops around the world who may face similar situations with Apple. In the U.S., for example, Apple has worked with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to seize counterfeit parts and raid independent iPhone repair shops.

It's no surprise that Apple does not want its iPhones and other devices repaired with counterfeit and inauthentic parts because it can lead to a whole slew of problems, and in fact, damage caused by such repairs can void a device's warranty.

Some repair shops don't want to pay Apple's fees or submit to Apple's restrictions to become an Apple Authorized Service Provider, however, which is the only way to receive genuine replacement parts. This dispute between Apple and independent repair shops is at the heart of the "Right to Repair" legislation that Apple is lobbying against in several states.

Apple may also be disabling certain iPhone features after repairs are done by aftermarket shops, even when using genuine parts. Earlier this week, a report suggested iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus display repairs disable the ambient light sensor on the devices, preventing the device's auto brightness features from working. It's still not clear if this is a bug or intentional, as Apple has not commented.

Article Link: Apple Lost Lawsuit Against Independent iPhone Repair Shop in Norway Over Unauthorized Parts

[doublepost=1559850606][/doublepost]There have been issues with replacing certain components, especially ones that interact with either the TouchID or FaceID systems due to the Secure Enclave. Apparently, replacing the TouchID home button caused it to not work properly because it needs to become trusted by the Secure Enclave. Apple has special tools to "bless" the hardware when replacing those parts. That software is not available to the public. Now, I don't know about the ambient sensor and the backlight brightness issues with replacement of an X, XS, & R iPhones but it is likely be related to the components on the notch used with FaceID. This is going to be the same problem with all T2 Macs as well. Eventually, Apple may kill the Hackintosh underground market by requiring the T2 for macOS to function. But moving from Intel to custom Apple SoC CPU's would accomplish the same goal. As to the whole counterfeit issue. Well almost all the parts seized are actual refurbished Apple parts with the Apple logo obscured to avoid being seized by Customs. You can walk down the street in China's tech districts and buy all kinds of parts for Apple devices many of them refurbished or even known to be broken or unusable and sold for component parts reasons. Something must happen to all those reject parts that get tossed from the factories. They end up on the gray market on the streets. There's also surplus broken iPhones that end up getting salvaged and resold. Maybe some are black market stolen. One guy built his own iPhone by buying parts all over the place. Then he upgraded the storage from 16GB to 64GB for a few dollars for the flash chip. He ended up buying about 5 dead or activation locked iPhone system boards so he could practice ball soldering the flash storage chip. That way he wouldn't damage his home-brewed Frankenstein iPhone. He succeeded, it worked perfectly. He was able to clone his data from the old chip, back it up, and put it back on the larger storage device expanding the storage. He had to buy a hardware device to handle the flash chip cloning, formatting, and restoration of data. He definitely didn't use iTunes or iCloud backup/restore to do it. All of this is possible yet it does take considerable skill, knowledge and access to expensive tools. A quality microscope being one of the most important tools. Temperature controlled high quality solder station, etc.

Apple should just sell parts directly, they are missing out on massive profits. It would eliminate the gray market if they price things appropriately. Once an Apple device is out of warranty what do they care? If a customer voids their warranty what do they care? Let the 3rd party unofficial market deal with it. Apple is trying to be like Tesla or is Telsa trying to be like Apple? Which came first? Anyway, a Tesla has the same problems there is no way to fix one because Telsa makes it very difficult.

 

[MamaMOB]

Counterfeit, genuine, inauthentic, refurbished? Which is it? There's something missing from this story, and if found, would probably explain why exactly Apple thought they had a case.

It's all 3. The parts are genuine. They were originally created by Apple. They're refurbished. They were broken and repaired. And apple is claiming they are counterfeit. So all three terms needed to be used.
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Can’t believe some people would not mind having counterfeit parts.

They're not counterfeit. That was Apples claim that was rejected by Norway. They are refurbished but not by Apple themselves. Therefore cannot have the Apple logo on them. That was explained in the article.

 

[Pedro147]

To further add to this story, Louis Rossmann, world authority in Macbook repair and data recovery (generally all things Apple, of a technical nature) has testified in this case via Skype link late last week. The video is available on Louis' YouTube channel here if you are interested

 

[wizbang68]

Apple last year sued an aftermarket repair shop in Norway, accusing the owner, Henrik Huseby of infringing on Apple's trademarks by using non-genuine aftermarket repair parts.

Details on the lawsuit were shared today by Motherboard, a site that has been covering "Right to Repair" efforts in the United States.

Apple started out by sending Huseby a letter demanding that he stop using aftermarket displays to repair broken devices after Norwegian customs officials seized iPhone 6 and 6s replacement screens that were addressed to him and discovered they were counterfeit.

Image via iFixit​

Huseby had ordered the screens, which were "refurbished screens assembled by a third party" from Hong Kong. The displays were refurbished using genuine broken iPhone components.

Apple wanted Huseby to destroy the counterfeit displays, pay a fine of about $3566, and sign an agreement not to manufacture, import, sell, or otherwise "deal with any products that infringe Apple's trademarks." Huseby decided he would not sign Apple's settlement, instead deciding to fight it, leading Apple to sue him.

According to Norwegian news sites, Apple had five lawyers working on the case against Huseby, but he ultimately won when the court sided with him. Apple appealed the decision and Huseby is waiting to hear whether or not a court will accept the appeal.

"They threw all kinds of claims against me and told me the laws and acted so friendly and just wanted me to sign the letter so it would all be over," Huseby told Motherboard. I had a good lawyer that completely understood the problem, did good research, and read the law correctly."

As Motherboard points out, while the specifics of the legal case will only be relevant to Norway, the lawsuit should be of interest to other independent repair shops around the world who may face similar situations with Apple. In the U.S., for example, Apple has worked with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to seize counterfeit parts and raid independent iPhone repair shops.

It's no surprise that Apple does not want its iPhones and other devices repaired with counterfeit and inauthentic parts because it can lead to a whole slew of problems, and in fact, damage caused by such repairs can void a device's warranty.

Some repair shops don't want to pay Apple's fees or submit to Apple's restrictions to become an Apple Authorized Service Provider, however, which is the only way to receive genuine replacement parts. This dispute between Apple and independent repair shops is at the heart of the "Right to Repair" legislation that Apple is lobbying against in several states.

Apple may also be disabling certain iPhone features after repairs are done by aftermarket shops, even when using genuine parts. Earlier this week, a report suggested iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus display repairs disable the ambient light sensor on the devices, preventing the device's auto brightness features from working. It's still not clear if this is a bug or intentional, as Apple has not commented.

Article Link: Apple Lost Lawsuit Against Independent iPhone Repair Shop in Norway Over Unauthorized Parts

[doublepost=1560004053][/doublepost]If the phone is damaged then it already isn't covered by the Apple warranty. Break the screen and Applecare doesn't cover it. In fact Apple will make every attempt to deny any warranty repair for example if you go from the outside with temps in the near zero and then board and plane and get off in Florida with a high humidity, the liquid sensors in the phone will show water damage, although it's just the sensors registering condensation. He also was buying refurbished parts that were married together with other refurbished parts. So they were apple products, but were not originally sold together because part #1 of the first screen was broken and part #2 of the second screen was broken. So the refurbisher just put together the working parts of the 2 screens as a refurbished item. Why that is a problem for Apple is beyond me. But, they have become more of a corporate crook in recent years that my loyalty is going downhill.

 

[Pedro147]

wizbang68 - Bill Gates used to be The Devil Incarnate - now it's Apple Inc

 

[palmerc]

Don't be silly. Apple Store technicians can replace the rear camera, display, and battery without specialized equipment. These technicians are trained using only videos and slide decks.

You're making a sweeping and inaccurate statement. It all depends on the model and the store. I've actually worked in depot repair and while you might argue that any idiot with a screwdriver can replace parts it is bigger than that.

In many cases repairs are not done in store but at a repair depot, depends on the problem and the product. In the case of Apple repair often is just swapping out the entire unit. Genuine parts can be in inventory or ordered to make the repair right. Not just some 'compatible' part, but one that is for all intents and purposes factory original. The repair facility has taken at least reasonable ESD precautions. There are numerous people that can be called on in the event you don't know what to do. Authorized facilities have access to additional tools and equipment.

The issue is that a customer without any specialized research should be able to walk-in with a broken device and walk-out with a fully functional device. Not one with new issues created by the cut-rate repair shop.

 

[Osamede]

Technology is all about compromises - this is understood. In the search of reliability and miniaturization we have had to give up the ability to 'repair' because these devices aren't serviceable without specialised equipment and parts. Even the term repair is inaccurate - we're talking about replacing half of the device and reassembly means the 'repair' has compromised fundamental features of the construction, like water/dust-proofing.

As an American living in Norway, I can say the issue isn't about repair, it is about warranty. Norway, and many other European countries, require by law good warranty periods, running from 3-5 years for electronics. AppleCare in Norway is actually redundant. The US should require similar warranty periods for electronics.
[doublepost=1559813105][/doublepost]

Of course this highlights the issue of how does a regular person judge the repair facility? This is where authorised service centres come into play. But the issue remains - your fault - doesn't really work. Apple is left dealing with a customer made unhappy by their own choice or accident. Customer Satisfaction is lowered, Value diminished.

Apple in Norway has actually created unsatisfied customers by having usurious prices for repair at their authorized dealers. Worse yet, if they take in a warranty claim and reject it, they ALSO charge a usurious fee for that. So this undercuts people's belief in Apple's warranty

See how they send owners of Apple devices to non-authorised dealers?

This is a case study in unbridled greed, not customer service.