It is not. It may be a shameless imitation, but no reasonable person would buy those thinking it was in fact an Apple product.
There can be an intent to deceive without the product being counterfeit. A Rowlex is not a counterfeit.
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US Border Patrol Seized 2,000 OnePlus Buds Believing Them to Be 'Counterfeit Apple AirPods'
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They ARE from HK... That's very close to China isn't it.
Wow, considering you have the phrase Guru in your name, this is a ridiculously stupid comment.
Go and look up the term 'counterfeit'.
CBP displaying incompetence proudly on social media. <face palm>
It's not CBP's job to be impromptu intellectual property lawyers.
These may be violations of copyright, trademark or patent law, and perhaps in poor taste, but they're not counterfeit products.
A lot had to go wrong here: several officers and their supervisors all agreeing (incorrectly), and passing it on to the social media department, which also saw no issue at all.
(I'm assuming that not any CBP officer can tweet with the official account. Maybe that assumption is off as well?)
So what you're saying is it was okay for the CBP to confuse a product (1+ Buds) coming from Hong Kong with a product (AirPods) that comes from China... cuz proximity?
No reasonable person? It confused customs. I guess they aren’t reasonable?
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I know. I was also being sarcastic. But I don’t feel the need for marking it.
You're 100% right. A lot went wrong. I'm guessing the higher up the chain this went, the lower the technical knowledge. "Big Bust" fever probably set in and all sense of dotting the I's and crossing the T's went straight out the window. A simple google could have saved a bit of embarrassment.
This just shows how much Oneplus (and every other tech company) copies Apple
All your pens kinda look the same right? All your lighters kinda look the same, all your bricks, floor tiles, doors, bobby pins, scrunchies, TVs, pipes, milk cartons, chopping boards, toilet paper etc etc. Alot looks the same, does the same thing but isn't "copying" but as soon as it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's an Apple product rip off.
There is the non-sarcastic “there’s only one natural way for these things to look” post.
as if these things always looked this way and weren’t ridiculed at first when Apple introduced them.
So if you are a „big name“ compared to a unknown tiny Chinese company, a counterfeit product suddenly becomes legit? Strange!
No, they are not counterfeit products since they don't use Apple's brand name. They are copycat products, which is significantly different from a legal perspective: counterfeit products are clearly illegal whereas copycat products not necessarily.
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What does your quote mean? There's no unknown tiny company in this story. There's no counterfeiting either.
Take another look at the box pictured in the CBP press release:
There is no Apple branding on it at all. There is however bold (and red) OnePlus branding.
Compare this to the Apple (white) packaging:
This Is the Pinnacle of Product Packaging | Gear Patrol
Apple AirPods are more than just great wireless earbuds that are thoughtfully designed. Including the way they are packaged.
Now have a look at the actual product:
OnePlus Store - OnePlus (Sverige)
I would say that nobody that is even remotely experienced with actual AirPods (and cares at all) would mistake these for an Apple product.
I think this answers your question.
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Pretty sure this product wouldn't have looked this way (and/or existed at all) if not for the AirPods.
You are being that guy. And you are correct in this instance. However, it is not unheard of for counterfeit products to enter the destination country in different packaging in an attempt to bypass inspections only to be placed in counterfeit packaging upon arrival prior to sale. Yes, CBP got it wrong, and it’s certainly not their job to determine trademark allegations where none has been alleged (and affirmed), but mistakes like this are bound to happen (in both directions) when you’re dealing with the volume and variety they see daily.
The thing is, it's not just a mistake of one CBP officer. The mistake clearly got escalated enough to eventually reach their social media department, with (apparently) none of those instances doing a double-take and googling whether OnePlus is maybe a brand that has been around for years and generally isn't considered counterfeit.
Obviously the box says OnePlus. Perhaps the agents were concerned about re-branding after it got into the US successfully ... then trying to pawn them off as AirPods at that point. A good idea for OnePlus would be not to rip off a design so much. There are many successful designs out there that do not mirror AirPods so much. I guess, by making such a flagrant copy, you could run this risk.
Just like Apple copies blatantly it’s competition? So what? Stealing is part of creativity, it always was and always will be, which is what brought companies like Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, ... to the place they are right now
Take another look at the box pictured in the CBP press release:
There is no Apple branding on it at all. There is however bold (and red) OnePlus branding.
Compare this to the Apple (white) packaging:
This Is the Pinnacle of Product Packaging | Gear Patrol
Apple AirPods are more than just great wireless earbuds that are thoughtfully designed. Including the way they are packaged.www.gearpatrol.com
Now have a look at the actual product:
OnePlus Store - OnePlus (Sverige)
www.oneplus.com
I would say that nobody that is even remotely experienced with actual AirPods (and cares at all) would mistake these for an Apple product.
I think this answers your question.
It doesn’t. Is the test whether the box looks the same, or whether the product looks the same?
And if it’s the product, if it confuses an average person is that good enough?
But they are not counterfeit. They are not trying to fool customers buying them as Apple products but Oneplus products. Copying design is totally different thing and that's what they have done here. It's all about if the fooling customers or bending copyright and design. But hey, at least they fooled CBP...