U. S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in
Cincinnati have seized three large shipments from China that contained fake
Apple AirPods which are estimated to be worth around $7.16 million. A total of
36,000 fake AirPods have been seized, each shipment containing 12,000 units.
Although each package had a declared value of $5,280, the Manufacturer’s
Suggested Retail Price for all the AirPods would have been $7.16 million had
they been genuine. In the official statement released by the US CBP, it says
that after consulting with an import specialist from CBP’s Center of Excellence
and Expertise, the items were found to be in violation of CBP trademark and
copyright codes and were seized on May 11 and 13. It goes on to explain that
Apple has configuration trademarks on their AirPods and has recorded those
trademarks with CBP. It also adds that a company does not have to put the
“Apple” wordmark or design on their products to violate these trademarks. In
this instance, further inspection of the earbuds revealed that their shape and
design replicated the protected Apple configuration.
Apple AirPods is one of the bestselling products from the
tech giant with shipments of about 114 million units in 2020. The company has a
dedicated anti-counterfeit team working which is tasked with the removal of
knock-off Apple products. Last year, the team managed to take down more than a
million product listings for fake Apple goods. U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) officers have seized three shipments of fake AirPods in Cincinnati, with
each shipment containing 12,000 items.
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