Apple tried to sue a Norwegian repair shop for using non genuine screens to repair iPhones last year (and lost)

[Master Disaster]

Some of you guys may remember the article from last week about Apple bricking iPhones that have had non genuine screens fitted

 

 

Well there's now a follow up story emerging that might shed some light on whether this was a deliberate move on Apple's part or not. Turns out that last year Apple tried to sue an independent Norwegian repair shop. Why? Well the owner had some imports checked by customs who determined the screens were non genuine parts and so informed Apple.

Quote

Apple last year sued an aftermarket repair shop in Norway, accusing the owner, Henrik Huseby of infringing on Apple's trademarks by using non-genuine aftermarket repair parts.

 

Details on the lawsuit were shared today by Motherboard, a site that has been covering "Right to Repair" efforts in the United States.

Apple started out by sending Huseby a letter demanding that he stop using aftermarket displays to repair broken devices after Norwegian customs officials seized iPhone 6 and 6s replacement screens that were addressed to him and discovered they were counterfeit.

So they initially demanded the shop owner sign a written agreement and pay a fine, he refused to do so and they sued him. Just to be super clear, this shop was fully independent and had no agreement with Apple about repairing phones.

Quote

Apple wanted Huseby to destroy the counterfeit displays, pay a fine of about $3566, and sign an agreement not to manufacture, import, sell, or otherwise "deal with any products that infringe Apple's trademarks." Huseby decided he would not sign Apple's settlement, instead deciding to fight it, leading Apple to sue him.

So Apple put 5 lawyers working on the case and claimed he was infringing on their trademark by using non genuine parts, the courts disagreed and sided with the shop owner stating the screens had no Apple logos and therefore couldn't be in breach of trademark. Apple still appealed.

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Apple had five lawyers working on the case against Huseby, but he ultimately won when the court sided with him. Apple appealed the decision and Huseby is waiting to hear whether or not a court will accept the appeal.

 

The court decourt that Norwegian law "does not prohibit a Norwegian mobile repair person from importing mobile screens from Asian  manufacturers that are 100 percent compatible and completely identical to Apple's own iPhone screens, so long as Apple's trademark is not applied to the product."

 

"It is not obvious to the court what trademark function justifies Apple's choice of imprinting the Apple logo on so many internal components," the court wrote. "Huseby is largely dependent on being able to import screens with covered up Apple logos to be able to operate in the market as a non-authorized iPhone repair technician."

"They threw all kinds of claims against me and told me the laws and acted so friendly and just wanted me to sign the letter so it would all be over," Huseby told Motherboard. I had a good lawyer that completely understood the problem, did good research, and read the law correctly."

https://www.macrumors.com/2018/04/13/apple-lawsuit-repair-shop-norway

 

OK, so now anybody try and claim Apple haven't done the whole bricking different screens thing on purpose, I dare you.

 

They refuse to sell independent shops authentic parts, needlessly slap their logo all over everything and then go around sueing over trademark when independent shops import refurbished screens.

 

Now that's no longer working for them instead they'll just stop phones from working entirely. It amazes me how they get away with this anticonsumer behaviour all the time.

[captain_to_fire]

Oh Apple, I hate that I love you. 

[GoldenLag]

the day Apple does something anti-consumer in Norway and looses marketshare is the day....that.........that will never happen ever

[anotherriddle]

I'll just say this:

Vote with your wallet!

[Xander Cousins]

Soooooo, Apple want to keep their money to themselves.... Really not much of a surprise to be fair with all recent events....

[MkaiL]

46 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

the courts disagreed and sided with the shop owner stating the screens had no Apple logos and therefore couldn't be in breach of trademark. Apple still appealed.

Wouldn't surprise me if they put an apple logo in the notch of the next model 

[Master Disaster]

7 minutes ago, MkaiL said:

Wouldn't surprise me if they put an apple logo in the notch of the next model 

They don't have to now, your phone will just brick itself once it detects a non genuine screen. That's check & mate to Apple.

[Master Disaster]

Just now, huilun02 said:

Why does the US have to fight for something that is common sense in Europe?

It's not all rose gardens & wine here in Europe, trust me

[asus killer]

this kind of links to the story the other day the Americans call warranty stickers useless. And to the Linus video on is own Apple product not being repaired.

It only serves this kind of purposes, sell stupid expensive parts with stupid expensive repair prices and lock consumers in anti consumer measures and possible planed obsolescence practices.

 

[TechyBen]

This needs to be on the WAN show. Really appropriate considering latest vids and events at LTT media group.

[Master Disaster]

2 minutes ago, asus killer said:

this kind of links to the story the other day the Americans call warranty stickers useless. And to the Linus video on is own Apple product not being repaired.

It only serves this kind of purposes, sell stupid expensive parts with stupid expensive repair prices and lock consumers in anti consumer measures and possible planed obsolescence practices.

 

Exactly this. I genuinely hope the right to repair bill passes and the FTC take Apple to task over all these bullshit tactics.

[TechyBen]

[edit]

Actually, I don't want to post in this thread. I don't think we can help people. If they buy Apple products, the only way to help them, is for them not to buy Apple at this point.

[Master Disaster]

3 hours ago, TechyBen said:

This needs to be on the WAN show. Really appropriate considering latest vids and events at LTT media group.

Linus won't cover this on WAN Show, he actively avoids controversial topics deliberately, and with good reason too.

 

2 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Not being on the same land mass with active conflict zones and poor countries, is not an excuse to not have common sense

That's not what I meant but I'm not getting into a geopolitical debate, this is neither the time nor the place for that.

[GoldenLag]

3 minutes ago, TechyBen said:

You willingly purchased a phone with a notch? Wow.

not to mention without headphone jack. i could understand one, but both?

 

question. would you mind a notch that is not a notch due to black OLED dislay ?

[leadeater]

Thread cleaned. Personal attacks and baiting comments will be removed and warnings issued.

[RuffRuffmcgruff]

annnnnd, that's why i've switched to Android (Amongst other things)

[anotherriddle]

1 hour ago, Alex Colson said:

Soooooo, Apple want to keep their money to themselves.... Really not much of a surprise to be fair with all recent events....

Not a surprise for sure. But it is not their money after they sell the device. They try to keep customers from getting a repair at an independent repair shop. In my opinion this (this -> meaning getting a repair and doing whatever with the device after you bought it) should be legal because it is good for the consumer and it is good for local small businesses no matter what the letter and/ or intent of current laws.

 

I believe there are only two solutions to this problem:

• Put laws in place to stop lobbyism.
• Stop buying products from companies that pull this bs.

I hope this comment does not get interpreted in an aggessive or angry way, I am just frustrated about this topic.

[Xander Cousins]

@anotherriddle I understand, What they are pulling is purely anti-consumer as people have stated and to be honest I don't see it getting any better. The thing about buying products from the companies that do this is that they will still have that small percentage of people who will still purchase the product purely due to the Name, and that will keep them afloat as tbh replacement parts are cheaper than they are sold at, it's only expensive to justify the price tag of the original purchase.

[GoldenLag]

7 minutes ago, Alex Colson said:

@anotherriddle I understand, What they are pulling is purely anti-consumer as people have stated and to be honest I don't see it getting any better. The thing about buying products from the companies that do this is that they will still have that small percentage of people who will still purchase the product purely due to the Name, and that will keep them afloat as tbh replacement parts are cheaper than they are sold at, it's only expensive to justify the price tag of the original purchase.

see the processor divisions at AMD. how on earth are they still alive!?!

Edited April 18, 2018 by GoldenLag

[Xander Cousins]

@GoldenLag AMD Magic that's how.....

[GoldenLag]

5 minutes ago, Alex Colson said:

@GoldenLag AMD Magic that's how.....

@Alex Colson wonder how many sold their souls...... this must be fx 8350 black magic

Edited April 18, 2018 by GoldenLag

[Xander Cousins]

@GoldenLag just too many.... R.I.P The AMD raid of 35'

[Teddy07]

I don´t get why people buy Apple products and then want cheap repairs.

[kokakolia]

11 hours ago, Teddy07 said:

 

I don´t get why people buy Apple products and then want cheap repairs.

It makes sense if you think about it this way:

 

iPhones are the most popular phones on the market so spare parts are more readily available. 

 

Also, I just had this thought: 

 

Phones from three years ago have plenty of performance to run most apps flawlessly with the exception of just a few power hungry games. These phones also have adequate cameras and screens. So it takes a lot more convincing to make consumers buy new phones. So Apple is desperate to push obsolescence by making their phones hard to repair. 

 

Another way to push obsolescence is through bad OS updates (or lack thereof) and Google is known for that with their Nexus and now Pixel phones. This effectively ensures that your phone is a brick 2 years after launch. This seems to be the trend with most Android phones these days. 

 

God forbid we have a phone that’s easily repairable these days because that would translate to record low sales for phone manufacturers. Also, we live in a time where we have amazing hardware and piss poor software that ruins the user experience. And that’s completely intentional. 

[Teddy07]

10 minutes ago, kokakolia said:

Another way to push obsolescence is through bad OS updates (or lack thereof) and Google is known for that with their Nexus and now Pixel phones. This effectively ensures that your phone is a brick 2 years after launch. I This seems to be the trend with most Android phones these days

 

I think I agree because I am using a Galaxy S2 and it got laggy over the last years. It is slightly annoying but I don´t use it much anyways.

I might buy a new one from the previous years because the lose so fast in value than buying the newest shit is not worth the money.