“Luxpro, a Taiwanese electronics company that won a lawsuit filed against it by Apple over an imitation of the iPod shuffle, intends to countersue Apple for $100m in damages,” Kathrin Hille ireports for The Financial Times.
“‘We plan to sue Apple in a Taiwanese court before the end of the month and demand $100m in compensation for the revenues we have lost due to their abuse of their global power,’ Wu Fu-chin, Luxpro chairman, told the Financial Times,” Hille reports.
“In March 2005, Luxpro created a stir at the CeBIT technology show in Germany when it presented an MP3 player that looked similar to the iPod Shuffle,” Hille reports. “…In July 2005 Apple asked the Shihlin District Court in Taipei for an injunction that would ban Luxpro from manufacturing or selling the product. The injunction was granted a month later.”
“Luxpro appealed and won subsequent lawsuits in the Taiwan High Court and the Taiwan Supreme Court,” Hille reports. “Luxpro estimates that it has lost revenues of about $100m because of the temporary ban on manufacturing and selling the Tangent.”
Full article here.
AppleInsider has a full copy of Luxpro’s press release, “David vs. Goliath: Apple Computer Inc. Loses Lawsuit, Luxpro Technology Files US$100 Million Compensation Claim” here.
Related articles:
Luxpro alters iPod shuffle look-alike music player, renames it ‘Super Tangent’ – March 31, 2005
Report: Luxpro ‘Super shuffle’ knock-off of Apple iPod shuffle a publicity stunt – March 21, 2005
iPod shuffle rip-off maker Luxpro’s Chairman: patents do not cover appearance – March 15, 2005
Apple moves to stop CeBIT presentation of Luxpro’s ‘Super shuffle’ iPod shuffle rip-off – March 14, 2005
Attention Apple Legal Dept: Luxpro debuts blatant ‘iPod shuffle’ rip-off called ‘Super shuffle’ – March 10, 2005
Yeah, who would be stupid enough to mistake THAT for an iPod……………..naught!
Now microsoft can sue Apple for stealing ideas from Vista in Tiger.
I’m going to go back in time and sue myself for copyright violation of my own comedy.
WTF? Those guys clearly copied Apple’s design. Does anyone else out there think Luxpro has “insiders” in the legal system over there? I mean, that’s just crazy.
in Taiwan, they all look the same. Hey! I sue u because u look like me! That would be insane… What a world it is bacl there…
Making the products look so similar and using the “shuffle” name is a pretty clear case of trademark infringment in the US, where the potential for customer confusion is the benchmark. Under US law, too, you can’t be sued for filing a non-frivolous lawsuit. (There are penalties for filing frivolous complaints, but if something goes to trial it is pretty much de facto not trivial.)
I have no idea what Taiwanese law is, but it’s unlikely that that pseudo-state has any real pull over Apple unless Apple decides its Taiwanese connections are worth more than 100 mil.
Looks like Taiwan is letting Taiwanese companies get away with copyright infringement.
Here in Australia our fire trucks are red. what colour’s yours?
The world has gone NUTS if they can win that case.
If only my MDN word was ‘total bullcrap lawsuit’ instead of ‘good’.
Z
And I thought the U.S. court system was screwed up!
This is going to end up as a diplomatic issue between the USA and Taiwan, and the Taiwanese really don’t want to be brought up before the GTO for failing to enforce IP protections.
-jcr
Has nobody noticed that the Taiwanese judge’s name is Zune Tang?
The Zune is better than the Tangent!!
My Microsoft Word quit suddenly preventing me from getting some work done today. I am going to sue MS for $100 Million. While I am at it I will sue Apple for $100 million for allowing my Mac to let Word crash.
Man oh man…I am liking this I think
What kind of country is that? I’ll think of this the next time a tsunami hits them and they beg for help!
i have been over 20 times to china and taiwan, i just hate china and taiwan. you see that is exactly the chinese style, oh no, this is no copy sir, oh no, instead they sue 100m, can you believe that ? typical chinse..
“when a chinese laughs at you while doing business, then you know you are fucked”
I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that Taiwan has never signed the Berne Convention, thus limiting the application of international copyright to pretty much anything sold in Taiwan. At least in terms of ‘rights of the author’.
~A~
The iPod Shuffle was released before that piece of ****. if anyone should be suing it should be apple.
“… I’ll think of this the next time a tsunami hits them and they beg for help!”
Ah, the American worldview! So refreshingly ignorant.
The Taiwanease legal system in incredibly corrupt.
So im not all at surprised Apple lost the case, even though it’s an obvious rippoff of Apple’s Shuffle.
The other company must have given a load of US$ to the judge to win that one.
It’s amazing to me the breadth of people who read this site. Apparently it includes people like Emil that do not know the difference between Taiwan (an island off the coast of China that is a computer component manufacturing powerhouse) and Thailand (a nation in southeast Asia that was affected by the tsunami of late 2004, and is not the setting for any Apple lawsuits).
I think Apple should treat this lawsuit all the respect that Taiwan gives to foreign IP, that it, give it the middle finger and ignore it.
Does Apple manufacture anything in Taiwan? If so, they should threaten to pull all their business out of the country unless their patents get fair protection.
“… I’ll think of this the next time a tsunami hits them and they beg for help!”
“Ah, the American worldview! So refreshingly ignorant.”
Scary isn’t it?
to JS (Jesus Christ?)
Taiwan prefers earth quakes!
“Last month, the Shihlin District Court lifted the original injunction, saying that “the appearances of the two products are significantly dissimilar”.
Can you BELIEVE that?
Corruption knows no boundaries.
We can only hope China invades Taiwan soon – then they can make counterfit shuffles rather than knock-ups.
BRIBERY!
Apple does manufacture a lot of there products in Taiwan. 2 Macs, both were shipped from Taiwan. They wouldn’t pull out. Where else are they going to find cheap labor with a infrasture and tech base that can handle Apple’s needs. They’ll settle out of court. Apple’s lawyers know that if they let it go to court and lose they set another dangerous precedent. However, if Luxpro or any other Taiwanese manufacturer attempts to distribute outside of Taiwan, I think they’d be screwed.
“What kind of country is that? I’ll think of this the next time a tsunami hits them and they beg for help”
Certainly by punishing the same people that are making 30 cents a day making that cheap ass knock off is the way to get back at ’em.
They should sue the court system for granting the injunction, not Apple. Obviously, if the courts granted an injunction, they agreed that there was a strong enough case.
As for the $100 million they’re asking for, at probably $25-50 US per shuffle rip-off, I highly doubt they would have sold 2-4 million of those things in the amount of time the injunction was in place…
Is it just me or has a lot of legal arrows been slung in Apple’s way recently? (It all started with William Tell!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> ) Is suing Apple the only way some companies and law firms know how to make money??? Sad really. Luxpro is using this tactic to grab some “easy cash”. They figured it worked for Creative (also a cool $100 mil), so why not give it a try. This will either be settled in Apple’s favor by the higher courts or will end up in front of the WTO.
Peace.
Sam–Here in Australia our fire trucks are red. what colour’s yours?
Ours are yellow in California, because they’re easier to see.
Yes, lets beat Emil over the head for confusing Taiwan with Thailand. And while we’re at it lets congratulate hs for being such a worldly prick.
I like babies!
Taiwanese don’t have any brains. Their culture exists of copying american products.
What a bunch of lame A$$*oles on the Supreme court…. wonder how much they got paid for that ruling….
Some people from Taiwan have no shame!!!
Zune Tang does not speak for me.
And, yes, I am judge, jury amd executioner of iPod lemmings.