5 ms·

You're conflating product made by the company but intended for sale in a particular market...with goods being made not by the company. Either in factories that

You're conflating product made by the company but intended for sale in a particular market...with goods being made not by the company. Either in factories that have nothing to do with Apple, or being made in factories contracted by Apple, but in ghost production lines in parallel to the official ones, or "after hours." Rossman was knowingly buying and importing parts made in Apple-contracted factories that were being made "off the clock" (ie, Apple parts are made from say, 9-5 and then from 6-10, the factory makes more, without telling Apple, and sells them through their own channels.) That's a contractual violation, which is a civil matter...but the factory was using the Apple logo on the labels of the batteries, which is a trademark violation, and that's where customs gets involved. So...yes, actually. Rossman has some valid points but he's also a slimy shyster. Everyone else in the repair and parts biz was buying batteries without Apple logos, Rossman knew that, and knew that he could charge more, or more easily sell, the apple-branded batteries. Apple has not, to the best of my knowledge, harassed anyone importing or using third party parts that lack an apple logo. It's hilarious that you're pissed about literally the whole point of a trademark.

vegardx 3y ago
This is just part of the story. The other part of the issue has been importing refurbished items, like screens and other components. The parts are literally pulled out of Apple produced products, as is. But since Apple puts their logo everywhere on the parts, it's almost impossible to import them. They just claim they're counterfeit, without having to provide any evidence that they are. This went all the way to the supreme court in Norway, and the supreme court sided with Apple. It's too expensive to remove the Apple branding on genuine and refurbished parts, so now we're stuck with actual counterfeits, often from the same factory as the originals, just without the logo. But we could have just used perfectly fine refurbished parts.
hef19898 3y ago
The guy kind of immediately struck as someone who would not check the ruls forst, or outright ignore them, only to turn around and rant about him not being allowed to cheat. E.g. by selling basically counterfeight batteries when everyone else uses non-branded batteries is cheating those other repair shops. That he wants to ride the, very legitimate, right-to-repair wave only seems fitting. Right to repair does not allow you to use counterfeight parts or illegal sources and ignore customs.
- hef19898 3y ago
  Just checked, isn't he the same guy who quit NYC over some legal / tax / liscensing dispute with authorities?
  - richbell 3y ago
    He left New York over their Kafka-esque treatment of him and his business, amongst other things. I'd encourage you to watch his videos where he calls the New York government and tries to figure out why there's been a lein and warrant for his business since 2012 (that he was never notified about because it was sent to a random PO box in Maine). Even worse, the warrant, which affected his business for years without him realizing, turns out to have been a mistake. He never would have figured it out without spending a month being bounced between departments, hung up on, etc.
    - bb88 3y ago
      Indeed. Kafka-esque is a good word for it. Even more, it looks like it was a software bug that ensnared 40 or so other businesses around the same time. I'm pretty much pro-regulation on companies -- but even so it's the government's job to enforce them fairly, accurately, and efficiently.

vegardx 3y ago

This is just part of the story. The other part of the issue has been importing refurbished items, like screens and other components. The parts are literally pulled out of Apple produced products, as is. But since Apple puts their logo everywhere on the parts, it's almost impossible to import them. They just claim they're counterfeit, without having to provide any evidence that they are. This went all the way to the supreme court in Norway, and the supreme court sided with Apple. It's too expensive to remove the Apple branding on genuine and refurbished parts, so now we're stuck with actual counterfeits, often from the same factory as the originals, just without the logo. But we could have just used perfectly fine refurbished parts.

hef19898 3y ago

The guy kind of immediately struck as someone who would not check the ruls forst, or outright ignore them, only to turn around and rant about him not being allowed to cheat. E.g. by selling basically counterfeight batteries when everyone else uses non-branded batteries is cheating those other repair shops. That he wants to ride the, very legitimate, right-to-repair wave only seems fitting. Right to repair does not allow you to use counterfeight parts or illegal sources and ignore customs.

hef19898 3y ago
Just checked, isn't he the same guy who quit NYC over some legal / tax / liscensing dispute with authorities?
- richbell 3y ago
  He left New York over their Kafka-esque treatment of him and his business, amongst other things. I'd encourage you to watch his videos where he calls the New York government and tries to figure out why there's been a lein and warrant for his business since 2012 (that he was never notified about because it was sent to a random PO box in Maine). Even worse, the warrant, which affected his business for years without him realizing, turns out to have been a mistake. He never would have figured it out without spending a month being bounced between departments, hung up on, etc.
  - bb88 3y ago
    Indeed. Kafka-esque is a good word for it. Even more, it looks like it was a software bug that ensnared 40 or so other businesses around the same time. I'm pretty much pro-regulation on companies -- but even so it's the government's job to enforce them fairly, accurately, and efficiently.