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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday April 17 2018, @09:58AM   Printer-friendly
from the taking-a-bite-out-of-the-apple dept.

Last year, Apple’s lawyers sent Henrik Huseby, the owner of a small electronics repair shop in Norway, a letter demanding that he immediately stop using aftermarket iPhone screens at his repair business and that he pay the company a settlement.

Norway’s customs officials had seized a shipment of 63 iPhone 6 and 6S replacement screens on their way to Henrik’s shop from Asia and alerted Apple; the company said they were counterfeit.

In order to avoid being sued, Apple asked Huseby for “copies of invoices, product lists, order forms, payment information, prints from the internet and other relevant material regarding the purchase [of screens], including copies of any correspondence with the supplier … we reserve the right to request further documentation at a later date.”

The letter, sent by Frank Jorgensen, an attorney at the Njord law firm on behalf of Apple, included a settlement agreement that also notified him the screens would be destroyed. The settlement agreement said that Huseby agrees “not to manufacture, import, sell, market, or otherwise deal with any products that infringe Apple’s trademarks,” and asked required him to pay 27,700 Norwegian Krone ($3,566) to make the problem go away without a trial.

“Intellectual Property Law is a specialized area of law, and seeking legal advice is in many instances recommended,” Jorgensen wrote in the letter accompanying the settlement agreement. “However, we can inform you that further proceedings and costs can be avoided by settling the case.”

Huseby decided to fight the case.

“That’s a letter I would never put my signature on,” Huseby told me in an email. “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. I had a good lawyer that completely understood the problem, did good research, and read the law correctly.”

Apple sued him. Local news outlets reported that Apple had five lawyers in the courtroom working on the case, but Huseby won. Apple has appealed the decision to a higher court; the court has not yet decided whether to accept the appeal.

[...] The specifics of Huseby’s case won’t matter for American repair shops, but that Apple continues to aggressively pursue a repair shop owner over 63 iPhone screens signals that Apple is not interested in changing its stance on independent repair, and that right to repair activists and independent repair companies should expect a long fight ahead of them: “I feel that this case was extremely important for them to win,” Huseby said.

He just hopes to get back to his shop, he told me.

“I will continue to repair iPhone like I did before, no change,” he said. “I’m glad I now don’t have to be afraid of importing compatible spare parts for iPhone again.”


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by quacking duck on Tuesday April 17 2018, @03:55PM

    by quacking duck (1395) on Tuesday April 17 2018, @03:55PM (#668145)

    You might be surprised. iDevice-only fans might fall into that category, but Mac fans are having a serious falling out with the company and that's translating into reduced enthusiasm for iDevices too, myself included.

    Just check this article [macdailynews.com] on a website I've called the Fox News of all things Apple. Until the last few few years, the editors and many commenters praised and rabidly defended Apple no matter what. But in this article, all the comments saying they are abandoning the Mac and switching to PC, or strongly considering doing so, are averaging 5 star ratings. Many are by long-time posters.

    A half-decade ago much was made about how Mac and iOS integration and the Apple ecosystem was a large part of what kept users stuck on Apple products, and it's much the same for me, too. Lose the Mac users, and suddenly the strongest Apple supporters have just lost a huge reason for sticking with iDevices.

    I no longer recommend or suggest iOS or Mac products unless I'm obligated to support them directly (e.g. family; no way in hell I'm wasting my personal time supporting Windows). Apple keeps making design decisions that go against my interests, so they can use their billions and market their own products themselves.

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