A lawsuit from Apple claims that 90% of power accessories listed on Amazon for Apple devices are counterfeit.
Apple’s lawsuit is against a company named Mobile Star LLC. Apple claims that the company used Amazon’s marketplace to sell multiple counterfeit power cables and chargers.
The suit states that the counterfeit products not only infringe on Apple’s copyright but also pose a danger to Mobile Star LLC’s customers, as the items may catch fire or otherwise malfunction. “Counterfeit power products, such as those supplied by Mobile Star, pose an immediate threat to consumer safety because, unlike genuine Apple products, they are not subjected to industry-standard consumer safety testing and are poorly constructed,” claims the lawsuit.
The suit claims that by utilising Apple’s product photos and marketing materials to advertise their products, Mobile Star LLC has misled customers into believing they are purchasing genuine Apple products. The suit stats, “When consumers encounter [Apple’s trademarks] and decide to purchase goods and services identified by these marks, they expect to receive genuine Apple products that have been produced by Apple.”
Over the past nine months, Apple has purchased more than 100 Apple peripheral products from Amazon, claiming that 90% of them were fake. Apple claims that the majority of these were purchased directly from Amazon, however Amazon have informed Apple that the supplier of the products was Mobile Star LLC. Amazon also provided the remaining inventory of Apple products made by Mobile Star LLC to Apple, the majority of which were determined to be fake.
Apple also noted that several customer reviews claim that products purchased from Mobile Star LLC malfunctioned and some even caught fire.
Apple says that this lawsuit is an active effort to combat counterfeit products and has issued takedown notices to multiple companies attempting to sell these products.
“Apple is concerned that consumers are being deceived into purchasing counterfeit products on Amazon.com and elsewhere in the mistaken belief that they are purchasing genuine Apple products,” states Apple’s lawsuit. The aim of lawsuit is to ban Mobile Star LLC from selling counterfeit products and to destroy all current counterfeit inventory.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart Tech, regularly writing about issues of Free Speech and online Censorship. Follow him on Twitter@LucasNolan_ or email him at lucas@yiannopoulos.net