Apple has “filed a trademark infringement cases against Mobile Star LLC for selling counterfeit power products such as power adapters and charging cables through Amazon.com. Apple believes these counterfeit products could lead to fires and are therefore a risk to the public,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.
Apple’s legal document states in part:
Apple makes great efforts to combat the distribution and sale of counterfeit Apple products bearing its trademarks. Despite Apple’s efforts, fake Apple products continue to flood Amazon.com. Each month, Apple identifies and reports many thousands of listings for counterfeit and infringing Apple products to Amazon.com under its notice and takedown procedures. Over the last nine months, Apple, as part of its ongoing brand protection efforts, has purchased well over 100 iPhone devices, Apple power products, and Lightning cables sold as genuine by sellers on Amazon.com and delivered through Amazon’s “Fulfillment by Amazon” program. Apple’s internal examination and testing for these products revealed almost 90% of these products are counterfeit. 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. In addition to Apple’s significant safety concerns for its consumers, these products, which are consistently poorly constructed, are unlikely to function as well as genuine Apple products. As a result, consumers will erroneously come to think that Apple’s products are of inferior quality and lose trust in the Apple brand, damaging the enormous goodwill associated with the Apple trademarks.
To stop the ongoing injury to Apple and its reputation and to protect consumers of Apple products, Apple brings this action against Mobile Star.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple is entirely correct to bring this action. Do not use fake chargers and cables that are not genuine Apple MFi Certified products. Amazon and Apple should work together to require sellers to prove their parts are genuine, especially in products that carry power and could cause injury and/or property damage as well as damage Apple’s brand.
Spend the extra $10 for real, Apple-certified chargers and cables (this doesn’t necessary mean Apple-branded; there are genuine MFi Certified products by other brands for sale on Amazon – Belkin, for one of many examples). The risk isn’t worth it. If a charger block is listed as “genuine,” but costs $1.99, it likely isn’t kosher.