You’ve probably seen this story floating around on tech websites over the last day or so — at the end of August, United States Customs and Border Protection agents stopped a shipment of “counterfeit AirPods” from entering the country. When they posted about the big bust on Twitter, reactions were less than enthusiastic from the tech community. The reason why? The “counterfeit AirPods” were actually white OnePlus Buds.
Naturally, users on Twitter took the government agency to task (rightfully so) for demonstrating the complete inability to tell a counterfeit product from a legitimate one. Anyone who was waiting to see the CBP apologize for the mistake got a rude awakening when the agency released a statement that basically said “This wasn’t a mistake. This product violates a configuration patent that Apple has. We’re just enforcing the law.” I’m paraphrasing of course.
I have a few issues with this, though. First off, you’re saying that the product violates a patent that Apple has. Apple. As in sues any company that uses fruit in their logo Apple. I really believe that if Apple had any issue with the OnePlus Buds, they would have taken legal action the moment the product was unveiled.
Secondly, the OnePlus Buds look somewhat like AirPods. I’ve seen products for sale that look a hell of a lot more like Apple’s earbuds and they seemed to have no issue getting from the factory to the store shelves.
More importantly, this story highlights something incredibly dangerous for this county: this administration refuses to admit when they make a mistake, even if they do so in the public eye.
I firmly believe that under any other leadership in this country, once the story had gone public and it was explained that the product belonged to another major technology company, an apology would be issued. I can’t help but think that it’s the official policy of this administration to admit no wrongdoing, even when you’ve clearly done wrong.
Don’t get me wrong, if a plane full of counterfeit MacBooks shows up at JFK, I want them to be intercepted. No one should have to suffer through the experience of unknowingly purchasing a counterfeit Apple product. But I also firmly believe that the agents tasked with stopping these products from entering the country should also be trained to be able to tell when a legit product is entering the country.
You can disagree with anything I said, that’s your right. By that same token though, I can’t help but wonder what was really going on during this whole situation.
Dan Stransky 