apple Louis Rossmann just had 20 Apple batteries seized by US Customs

[Athan Immortal]

 

US customs have seized 20 batteries that were headed to Louis Rossmann's shop just days after the CBC video on Apple's dubious repairs aired. (See note in edit below regarding timing).

 

Here is a screen cap of the notice of seizure.

 

 

 

EDIT 19th Oct 2018 - Some users pointed out that the date of seizure on the letter above is 6th of Sept 2018, which is technically before the CBC piece aired, however as LTT forum HashBrowns pointed out, Louis said on Reddit that Apple were informed of the story two months ago, long before this seizure, which is why he is still referring to it as suspicious timing in the video.

 

Edited October 19, 2018 by Athan Immortal
Pressed submit a bit quick. added other images, adding clarification information

[elfensky]

Given his (relative) publicity and (some) media connections, I wonder if we'll see anything about Apple using customs for racketeering in the general media.

[Speed Weed]

Apple is corrupted. 

[Tristerin]

I love watching that guy.  

 

Im also very anti big Government.

 

None of this is good.

[mr moose]

Whilst I don't know the particular details of these situations, After an extensive discussion on here earlier this year it would appear the US has some pretty dodgy laws in place to protect their corporate overlords.

[iamsuperfro]

Could this have been a breach of some law somewhere in america? Seems to me a lawyer would advise against making a video like this - thoughts from anyone who knows the law? lol

[DrMacintosh]

I mean the US stillhasmany states where Civil Asset Forfeiture is a thing. If you get arrested an officer can take whatever you have on you in some instances. 

 

Just another example of outdated laws and mismanagement of government institutions. 

[DrMacintosh]

2 minutes ago, iamsuperfro said:

Could this have been a breach of some law somewhere in america? Seems to me a lawyer would advise against making a video like this - thoughts from anyone who knows the law? lol

There is nothing illegal or of poor legal decision about any of this in the US. 

[D13H4RD]

Well, there goes my battery for the 2009 MBP

 

What the frick... 

[Spotty]

Quote

The property was seized and is subject to forfeiture under the provisions of 19 USC 1526(e) which prohibits the importation of merchandise bearing a counterfeit trademark that is both registered with the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and recorded with Customers and Border Protection. The property contains markings which are substantially indistinguishable from and, therefore, bear a counterfeit design/work/mark as indicated below. Customs and Border Protection Regulations provide that any article imported into the United States bearing a counterfeit trademark shall be seized and, in the absence of the written consent of the trademark owner, forfeited for violation of the Custom Laws.

So it wasn't that he was importing batteries to be used in Apple devices. It was that he was importing counterfeit batteries that bear trademarked branding.

 

US customs treats counterfeit batteries or other parts and accessories the same as they would treat a counterfeit iPhone or counterfeit Samsung Note 9 from China. They seize it, issue a notice to the recipient and destroy the counterfeit goods. Rosmann should abandon the goods and move on. Not worth fighting US customs on this, and if they are counterfeit items as described in the notice, then he should never have tried importing them in the first place. In future he should stick to generic unbranded replacement parts - not counterfeit replacement parts disguised as being genuine with trademarked branding.

[D13H4RD]

4 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Not worth fighting US customs on this, and if they are counterfeit items as described in the notice, then he should never have tried importing them in the first place. In future he should stick to generic unbranded replacement parts - not counterfeit replacement parts disguised as being genuine with trademarked branding.

On Rossmann's video, he mentioned that while the Customs Department claims they were counterfeit, they could've been actual legitimate batteries.

[indrora]

6 minutes ago, Spotty said:

In future he should stick to generic unbranded replacement parts - not counterfeit replacement parts disguised as being genuine with trademarked branding. 

you literally never know what you're getting sometimes. I've bought batteries that claimed to be unbranded but turned out to have branding slathered all over them.

 

Worse, sometimes you buy what you think are legit parts only to find out that they're not. He ends up with counterfeits all the time and has regularly talked about how he spots them.

[HashBrowns]

23 minutes ago, Spotty said:

So it wasn't that he was importing batteries to be used in Apple devices. It was that he was importing counterfeit batteries that bear trademarked branding.

 

US customs treats counterfeit batteries or other parts and accessories the same as they would treat a counterfeit iPhone or counterfeit Samsung Note 9 from China. They seize it, issue a notice to the recipient and destroy the counterfeit goods. Rosmann should abandon the goods and move on. Not worth fighting US customs on this, and if they are counterfeit items as described in the notice, then he should never have tried importing them in the first place. In future he should stick to generic unbranded replacement parts - not counterfeit replacement parts disguised as being genuine with trademarked branding.

"and if they are counterfeit items as described in the notice"

 

"Steals over 1k USD from someone"

 

Yeah, that's some faulty logic.

[Athan Immortal]

15 minutes ago, indrora said:

you literally never know what you're getting sometimes. I've bought batteries that claimed to be unbranded but turned out to have branding slathered all over them.

 

Worse, sometimes you buy what you think are legit parts only to find out that they're not. He ends up with counterfeits all the time and has regularly talked about how he spots them.

There's also the issue mentioned in his video that even if he wanted legitimate parts, apple refuse to supply this part anymore because it's considered "vintage". They're literally stopping people from even getting 3rd party batteries for a laptop that they refuse to supply parts for.

[DrMacintosh]

21 minutes ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

they could've been actual legitimate batteries.

I just want to point out that “could’ve been” does not necessary mean that they definitely were. 

 

Customs is still wrong for doing it, but we have nobody to blame for that other than the people who pass the laws that allow this kind of thing to happen. 

[D13H4RD]

6 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I just want to point out that “could’ve been” does not necessary mean that they definitely were. 

 

Customs is still wrong for doing it, but we have nobody to blame for that other than the people who pass the laws that allow this kind of thing to happen. 

There's always the possibility that Rossmann got bamboozled this time around.

[Spotty]

Just now, indrora said:

Worse, sometimes you buy what you think are legit parts only to find out that they're not. He ends up with counterfeits all the time and has regularly talked about how he spots them.

It appears as if this was one of those times.

 

5 minutes ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

On Rossmann's video, he mentioned that while the Customs Department claims they were counterfeit, they could've been actual legitimate batteries.

What Rosmann claims in his videos and what is the truth are often two very different things, especially when it comes to Apple conspiracies. Rosmann claims that it is Apple he is fighting on this - when Apple likely has no idea about the seizure, at least not prior knowledge. It's the US Customs & Border Protection that he is fighting. Rosmann also claims that he believes this is retaliation from Apple for the CBC article that was published on 9th of October... Yet the date of seizure listed in the notice is 6th September 2018 - more than a month before the CBC article about Apple was published.

 

Rosmann's claims are that customs have no way of knowing if the goods are counterfeit or not. Since Rosmann hasn't received the shipment, he hasn't seen the products. So he has no way of knowing if the goods are counterfeit or not, he just assumes they must be genuine and that Apple is out to get him because they're the boogeyman. If Rosmann wants to fight it, he can take the matter to court and have the goods independently verified. If the goods are determined to be genuine, he will get them back and he may even be able to recover court costs as well as damages for the holding of shipment and loss of business as a result.

 

Rosmann should just accept the high possibility that the 'genuine' Apple batteries that he himself admits are no longer being produced by authorised OEMs due to being end of life were counterfeit and abandon the shipment. Maybe he just got a bad shipment from his supplier. Maybe the supplier is known to US Customs for importing counterfeit goods and that is why the shipment was flagged and subsequently seized. It's really not worth fighting.

[D13H4RD]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

Maybe he just got a bad shipment from his supplier. Maybe the supplier is known to US Customs for importing counterfeit goods and that is why the shipment was flagged and subsequently seized. It's really not worth fighting.

As mentioned above, there's always the possibility that he got bamboozled.

 

Don't know if they still do 2009 MBP batteries though

[Razor Blade]

I'm surprised this isn't a more common thing. I work with a lot of product that has to go through customs and can say that there have been countless times that customs decides to hold something for whatever reason. It is ordered directly from the manufacturer so it isn't ever an issue but in Louis's case, it sounds like he's ordering directly from vendors of Apple or vendors that maybe resell used parts.

 

Ultimately it isn't the parts...it is the stupid logo that got his shipment seized. Customs has no way of knowing if it is legit. Maybe the only thing they do is contact the manufacturer and ask if it is counterfeit. Of course Apple is going to say it is...

[HashBrowns]

15 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I just want to point out that “could’ve been” does not necessary mean that they definitely were. 

 

Customs is still wrong for doing it, but we have nobody to blame for that other than the people who pass the laws that allow this kind of thing to happen. 

Please don't beat around the bush. Apple is 100% at fault in this case, because they are using the government to take advantage of hard working citizens. That's not just "people who pass the laws". That's Apple having a seizure agreement for specific parts with US customs. It's also the "people who pass the law' too, but not just them.

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

It appears as if this was one of those times.

 

What Rosmann claims in his videos and what is the truth are often two very different things, especially when it comes to Apple conspiracies. Rosmann claims that it is Apple he is fighting on this - when Apple likely has no idea about the seizure, at least not prior knowledge. It's the US Customs & Border Protection that he is fighting. Rosmann also claims that he believes this is retaliation from Apple for the CBC article that was published on 9th of October... Yet the date of seizure listed in the notice is 6th September 2018 - more than a month before the CBC article about Apple was published.

 

Rosmann's claims are that customs have no way of knowing if the goods are counterfeit or not. Since Rosmann hasn't received the shipment, he hasn't seen the products. So he has no way of knowing if the goods are counterfeit or not, he just assumes they must be genuine and that Apple is out to get him because they're the boogeyman. If Rosmann wants to fight it, he can take the matter to court and have the goods independently verified. If the goods are determined to be genuine, he will get them back and he may even be able to recover court costs as well as damages for the holding of shipment and loss of business as a result.

 

Rosmann should just accept the high possibility that the 'genuine' Apple batteries that he himself admits are no longer being produced by authorised OEMs due to being end of life were counterfeit and abandon the shipment. Maybe he just got a bad shipment from his supplier. Maybe the supplier is known to US Customs for importing counterfeit goods and that is why the shipment was flagged and subsequently seized. It's really not worth fighting.

And this is where I have problems with this,  I get that customs is there to prevent the shipping of illegal goods, but when it comes to things like batteries and knockoff's (and lets face it, some of the knock offs are so good they make experts look twice), what makes customs agents the best identifiers. Somethings are easy for them to deal with, like drugs, weapons and things of a very indisputable nature, but taking goods that are alleged to be counterfeit should only occur after apple has made a complaint to the police and they are seized from his property as evidence.  It really seems like there is a huge chunk of innocent until proven guilty and due process in justice that is missing here. 

[DrMacintosh]

23 minutes ago, HashBrowns said:

Apple is 100% at fault in this case, because they are using the government to take advantage of hard working citizens.

Evidence? Can you prove that Apple is using Customs as their personal secret police? Or is it possible that a federal department of the US is doing what it was tasked to do, however unjustly?

[Athan Immortal]

 

23 minutes ago, mr moose said:

And this is where I have problems with this,  I get that customs is there to prevent the shipping of illegal goods, but when it comes to things like batteries and knockoff's (and lets face it, some of the knock offs are so good they make experts look twice), what makes customs agents the best identifiers. Somethings are easy for them to deal with, like drugs, weapons and things of a very indisputable nature, but taking goods that are alleged to be counterfeit should only occur after apple has made a complaint to the police and they are seized from his property as evidence.  It really seems like there is a huge chunk of innocent until proven guilty and due process in justice that is missing here. 

A similar thing happened in Norway where customs intercepted refurbished screens for iphone 6, The level of government co-operation Apple gets is scary.

[HashBrowns]

6 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Evidence? Can you prove that Apple is using Customs as their personal secret police? Or is it possible that a federal department of the US is doing what it was tasked to do, however unjustly?

Yeah they are doing it "legally", but Apple is exploiting it with their "counterfeit" seizures   Louis has a video about the counterfeit exploitation they are using and could explain it a lot better than me tbh

[BuckGup]

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

I mean the US stillhasmany states where Civil Asset Forfeiture is a thing. If you get arrested an officer can take whatever you have on you in some instances. 

 

Just another example of outdated laws and mismanagement of government institutions. 

Also goes the other way if they are debt collectors or repo men they can't take anything on you so people will quick sell everything and buy expensive jewelry and wear their money