US Border Patrol Seized 2,000 OnePlus Buds Believing Them to Be 'Counterfeit Apple AirPods'

[itsmilo]

What does your quote mean? There's no unknown tiny company in this story. There's no counterfeiting either.

exactly, and why isn't it a counterfeit? Just because it comes from a company with a good reputation, its not? Imagine if someone from AliExpress shipped those instead. They would have been destroyed immediately but since they come from some company such as "OnePlus" it is suddenly no counterfeit. It just shows that you get away with more, if you already have a reputation

 

[bokdol]

exactly, and why isn't it a counterfeit? Just because it comes from a company with a good reputation, its not? Imagine if someone from AliExpress shipped those instead. They would have been destroyed immediately but since they come from some company such as "OnePlus" it is suddenly no counterfeit. It just shows that you get away with more, if you already have a reputation

because they are not passing it off as an apple product.
you can say wannabe even a copy of but not counterfeit.
seriously do you people need to understand words?

 

[chucker23n1]

exactly, and why isn't it a counterfeit? Just because it comes from a company with a good reputation, its not? Imagine if someone from AliExpress shipped those instead. They would have been destroyed immediately but since they come from some company such as "OnePlus" it is suddenly no counterfeit. It just shows that you get away with more, if you already have a reputation

It's not a counterfeit because it doesn't even remotely claim to be a set of AirPods.

 

[IIGS User]

Sometimes, people manage to join U.S. Customs without a high school education.

Hey!

I was a customs inspector for a whole five weeks in 2003. That HAS to make me the Macrumors resident expert on customs law thingies and such.

When I applied and got hired, basically you weren't getting through the civilian side of it without a BS/BA (I have two). Working your way in from the military may be different, I just don't have the knowledge. My personal experience is so dated as to render it obsolete. Someone posting here could have been born the year I worked there.

I decided to return to the agency I worked for before. They actually require a BS/BA to sit for the test for any reason whatsoever (no exceptions). The pay wasn't as good, but believe it or not, the retirement and health benefits are better than at the federal level, and I can't be forced to traipse about the country on the whim of the supervisor. I also make my own schedule, with a few understandable exceptions.

I can retire from all this nonsense in two years. Which is great. I'm thinking about a bicycle rental shop down the beach.

Or being a pot smoking beach bum with a beard. I medically qualify for my card...

 

[cwwilson]

I’ll be honest, when I saw “US Border Patrol seizes”, “2000” and “Bud” I wasn’t thinking about headphones! 😜

 

[Cartaphilus]

Those who are interested may wish to learn more about the concept of "Trade Dress", part of the Lanham Act.

 

[69Mustang]

exactly, and why isn't it a counterfeit? Just because it comes from a company with a good reputation, its not? Imagine if someone from AliExpress shipped those instead. They would have been destroyed immediately but since they come from some company such as "OnePlus" it is suddenly no counterfeit. It just shows that you get away with more, if you already have a reputation

Based on your reply, you have a misunderstanding of counterfeit. Looking similar to another product does not constitute counterfeit. Trying to pass a product off as a genuine item from another manufacturer is counterfeiting. Not this. What you're implying is copying or a patent violation. Separate issues altogether. An issue adjudicated in a court of law.

The packaging clearly says 1+ so they aren't trying to pass off the Buds as AirPods. Similarity in design does not make a product counterfeit. As has been stated, a quick bit of searching by anyone involved in this could have avoided this issue entirely.

 

[CarlJ]

Surely a key aspect to counterfeits is passing off as the product they are copying.

These clearly have no Apple logo on them, or Apple/Airpod branding of any sort.

So very much this - counterfeiting requires copying the branding/logos (“trade dress”) of the original item in an attempt to make people believe that they are the original product, not merely “just like” or “as good as” the original product.

If you tried to make your own currency, on bright pink paper with pictures of unicorns on them, people might question your judgement, but nobody could legitimately accuse you of counterfeiting US dollars.

These are clearly a different design, heavily influenced by AirPods to be sure (and you could argue they’re in poor taste because of that), but they’re emblazoned with “OnePlus” all over, with no Apple logos anywhere in sight. They’re clearly not counterfeit. Words have meanings!

 

[tornadowrangler]

In other news, a shipment of Monopoly board games were seized for containing thousands of dollars of counterfeit bills ranging from $1 to $500!

 

[WiseAJ]

Ah yes. The OnePlus Buds. aka the poor man’s AirPods.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

If this happened to clearly-labeled boxes, imagine what brown people have to go through when dealing with these idiots that have been granted authority.

Oh wait... never mind.

 

[Geckotek]

I can just see a bunch of CBP officers running around wearing the OnePlus Buds. 😆

The box is clearly not infringing anything: it doesn't use Apple's brand or tries to look like the Apple packaging.

The product itself is open to debate, especially for the case.

Apple has actual design patents protecting the AirPods Pro case design and the copycat product has definitely a similar case design. Whether the similarity is enough to be considered an infringement, I don't know.

Design patents are incredibly easy to get around. Something as simple as the squaring off of the piece that extends from the earbud could prevent Apple from having a successful lawsuit here, and both sides know it.

So are these a copy? Absolutely. Are they counterfeit? Absolutely not.

As one vocal poster in this thread gave fake Rolex as an example, I present to you the the following:

32 Best Rolex Submariner Homage Alternatives - The Upgreater

In the world of watches, the Rolex Submariner is truly a legend. With a history spanning over six decades, the Submariner has seen other designs come and go,

theupgreater.com

All clearly copies, none being pursued as counterfeit as they clearly mark the branding and do not try to pass off as "Rolex".

 

[pers0n]

I wonder how much Apple paid to have this done

Reminds me of years ago when lots of copyright infringement clothing of major sports team were cracked down on, nfl and others probably stuffed some bills in some donation boxes and provided some vacations and meals

 

[Geckotek]

Even if the product is a 'copy', the company still has to get approval from the original owner to allow them to make a copy. Apple own the rights to the Aipod and thus anyone making a 'copy' without having the right to do so is ingriinging on Apple's rights and thus the product can be seized at customes, regardless of what the outer packaging looks like.

That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works.

 

[Geckotek]

exactly, and why isn't it a counterfeit? Just because it comes from a company with a good reputation, its not? Imagine if someone from AliExpress shipped those instead. They would have been destroyed immediately but since they come from some company such as "OnePlus" it is suddenly no counterfeit. It just shows that you get away with more, if you already have a reputation

Because counterfeit has a specific legal definition that these do not fit. If they did, you'd be seeing reports of OnePlus being prosecuted for this. It's a pretty simple concept to grasp.

 

[bsolar]

So are these a copy? Absolutely. Are they counterfeit? Absolutely not.

That's basically what I stated above, they are not conterfeits but are copycats and whether copycats are infringing or not is decided on a case-by-case basis.

 

[PaulpBenitti]

So... they aren’t counterfeit AirPods?

Depends on your point of view, frankly.

 

[PaulpBenitti]

While this is an obvious and undeniable blunder...

The fact that the product in question is an absurd rip off gives the whole thing an entirely different air.

 

[PaulpBenitti]

The government is always consistent in its ability to be inept and destroy.

What an intelligent comment.

Customs and Border Patrol perform extremely useful and important services (which is why we have them in the first place).

They make a mistake, a stupid mistake, like this and your response is to categorically deny them (and the entire government, apparently) as useless.

Cool. Adult. Very.

 

[Geckotek]

That's basically what I stated above, they are not conterfeits but are copycats and whether copycats are infringing or not is decided on a case-by-case basis.

To be clear, that statement wasn't directed at you. (Only the design patent portion was in direct response to your post)

 

[Geckotek]

Depends on your point of view, frankly.

No it doesn't at all. This is a legal term that has a specific definition. Our personal points of view are irrelevant.

 

[TonyC28]

I’m wondering if there is more to this story. Sorry if already discussed, but while we all understand these are knock-offs, they are definitely different. No one involved knows what real AirPods look like?

 

[Arctic Moose]

My AirPods don’t have an Apple logo either.

All I see is AirPods in a red box.

Really?

Your AirPods look like this?

Ok.

 

[19callum93]

How embarrassing for OnePlus 😂

 

[cuwickliffe]

Border Patrol hasn't done all that great a job on Samsung's knockoff iPhones for the past decade.