Apple Sued An Independent Norwegian Repair Shop In Bid To Monopolize Repair -- And Lost

from the high-horse dept

Mon, Apr 23rd 2018 3:27am — Karl Bode

A few years ago, annoyance at John Deere's obnoxious tractor DRM birthed a grassroots tech movement. John Deere's decision to implement a lockdown on "unauthorized repairs" turned countless ordinary citizens into technology policy activists, after DRM and the company's EULA prohibited the lion-share of repair or modification of tractors customers thought they owned. These restrictions only worked to drive up costs for owners, who faced either paying significantly more money for "authorized" repair, or toying around with pirated firmware just to ensure the products they owned actually worked.

The John Deere fiasco resulted in the push for a new "right to repair" law in Nebraska. This push then quickly spread to multiple other states, driven in part by consumer repair monopolization efforts by other companies including Apple, Sony and Microsoft. Lobbyists for these companies quickly got to work trying to claim that by allowing consumers to repair products they own (or take them to third-party repair shops), they were endangering public safety. Apple went so far as to argue that if Nebraska passed such a law, it would become a dangerous "mecca for hackers" and other rabble rousers.

Apple's efforts in particular to monopolize repair run deep. The company has worked alongside the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to seize counterfeit parts in the United States and raid shops of independent iPhone repair professionals. FOIA efforts to obtain details on just how deeply rooted Apple is in ICE's "Operation Chain Reaction" have been rejected. The efforts to "combat counterfeit goods" often obscures what this is really about for Apple: protecting a lucrative repair monopoly and thwarting anybody that might dare repair Apple devices for less money.

And Apple's efforts on this front are a decidedly global affair. More recently, Apple has been harassing an independent repair shop owner in Norway named Henrik Huseby. After Norway customs officials seized a shipment of 63 iPhone 6 and 6S replacement screens on their way to Huseby's repair shop, Apple threatened to sue the store owner unless they agreed to stop using aftermarket screens and pay a hefty settlement:

"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."

How sweet. Huseby decided to fight the case, and despite being out-manned five Apple lawyers to one, managed to win. And despite Apple's ongoing claims that it's simply engaged in a moral crusade against counterfeiters, Huseby's lawyer is quick to reiterate what Apple's methods are really all about:

"In this case, Apple indirectly proves what they really want,” Per Harald Gjerstad, Huseby’s lawyer, told me in an email. “They want monopoly on repairs so they can keep high prices. And they therefore do not want to sell spare parts to anyone other than ‘to themselves.’"

Apple's real motivation is the protection of their lucrative repair monopoly enjoyed thanks to their "Authorized Service Provider" program, which requires that repair companies become authorized by paying Apple a fee, only buy "authorized" repair parts from Apple at a fixed rate, and limits what repairs a third-party vendor can actually perform. Meanwhile, Apple continues to lobby against right to repair laws in 18 states around the United States, all of which require hardware vendors sell replacement parts and repair tools to the general public and independent repair companies.

Ironically, the harder Apple and other companies fight against this trend, the more support they drive toward these right to repair bills.

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Filed Under: counterfeits, homeland security, ice, norway, right to repair, trademark
Companies: apple

47 Comments

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Yes, I know I'm commenting anonymously, 23 Apr 2018 @ 3:52am

Sorry Karl,

..what this is really about for Apple: protecting a lucrative repair monopoly..

This is not a lucrative repair monopoly, it is a lucrative `buy a new one' business.
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MathFox, 23 Apr 2018 @ 4:10am

Re: Sorry Karl,
If you look at it from the legal side, Apple might be running a franchise for its repairs. A lucrative franchise indeed if you can force the repair-shops to pay (yearly) fees, buy spare parts only from you and you set the consumer prices for the repairs.
Of course making repairs expensive is good for sales of new products... so Apple has several good reasons for its anti-competitive behaviour.
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Feldie47 (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 4:16am

Hypocrisy beyond the outrageous! Apple itself was founded by two hackers -Jobs and Woz. 'Mecca for Hackers' indeed. That was Apple itself.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 4:25am

Re:
Well, Apple is one of the fattest corporate maggots on earth and it long ago gnawed away any hacker ethos it had for the pursuit of profit.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 4:26am

Dang, out_of_the_blue's not going to like this, is he?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 4:31am

but are Apple "counterfeit" parts necessarily counterfeit?
Since Apple Computer does not own the factories that make iPhone parts, and insteads contracts with independent manufacturers such as Foxconn, there's obviously a financial incentive for these companies (or even sneaky employees) to "double dip" and sell their excess production of parts on the gray market. Which could result in official Apple parts and "counterfeit" aftermarket parts being identical since they both came off the same assembly line.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 4:36am

Magic
Look guys, you can't just repair Apple devices because they are magic. You just don't have the mana.
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psychedelic (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 4:57am

PIRATE PROXY
You definitely should point out the Tor. Tor is software that creates a proxy to various Tor servers. those servers use cryptography to create ahead secrecy among routers. Your records is bounced through a chain of routers and subsequently is routed to its destination. The cease connection handiest sees the closing router facts. The Tor network consists of servers in many exceptional nations, lots of which have stricter privacy legal guidelines.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 5:00am

As for the "right to repair" laws, I would propose one more - requiring OEM service & repair manuals to be made available to the public, instead of just the official warranty repair shops. That should have been done a hundred plus years ago. (fortunately public libraries were not prohibited from having these books, even if commercial bookstores were)
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 5:12am

Re: Magic
Or maybe you're just not mana enough to do it right.
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TheResidentSkeptic (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 5:44am

Re:
SAMS Photofacts used to be available to the public in every electronics parts stores. They were my favorite reading materials when I was growing up.
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Barry Flash, 23 Apr 2018 @ 5:47am

<a href="https://freemoviesite.me/">free movie sites online/a>
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Barry Flash, 23 Apr 2018 @ 5:48am

<a href="https://freemoviesite.me/">free movie sites online</a>
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Free Movie SItes, 23 Apr 2018 @ 5:52am

Free Movies HD 2018
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 6:31am

Re:
"Payment and Renewal.
General Terms.
By selecting a product or service, you agree to pay FreeMovieSite.me the one-time and/or monthly or annual subscription fees indicated ... "

It seems Free Movie Site is not a free movie site.
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MathFox, 23 Apr 2018 @ 6:49am

good things pass.
Well Woz left, Jobs was ousted, returned and passed away. Woz was the Apple hacker, Jobs was more involved with design (and did a great job there).
Apple makes some good products, but for me, I don't like to pay to be allowed to play in some manufacturer's walled garden.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 7:17am

Re: but are Apple "counterfeit" parts necessarily counterfeit?
Yep, it's definitely Apple's fault. Apple's own actions and high costs have created the gray market.
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bob, 23 Apr 2018 @ 7:30am

Re: good things pass.
Really Apple has just been re-inventing their iPod year after year. (adding video, touch screen, then the ability to make calls, etc.)

Their laptops are overpriced and nothing special. The only reason Apples products are viable is because they have ravenous fanboys that will buy anything if it is shiny and made by Apple. Oh, and because they have a closed platform so they can control what hardware works with their equipment.

I will give you that the design is smoother and feels less clunky than other systems but since I like playing games I would prefer to have a more powerful system for the price of an Apple system.
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trollificus (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 9:13am

My very first computer (a 386 that leapfrogged my computer mentors' model! "Why do you need 24 megs of RAM, man?"), I remmed out the 'win' command in the startup bat file and ran it from a command line because I liked feeling that I was more into the guts of the machine.

So, after hearing how evil Micro$oft was, I checked into Apple...and found I couldn't even do THAT? Couldn't build my own (which I did with my second and all subsequent computers for many years)? Screw that. I could deal with 'evil', didn't even have any interest in "proprietary". Screw Apple.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 9:18am

Re: Dang, out_of_the_blue's not going to like this, is he?
For anyone new here (which I doubt there is!): out_of_the_blue is a screen name that hasn't been used since 2014, but which the fanboys still regard with fear and awe. -- Because out_of_the_blue didn't enagage in childish ad hom back and forth, but unarguable bullet-pointed views:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140117/10562125920/copyright-week-fair-use-is-not-exceptio n-rule.shtml#c158

"out_of_the_blue" has been mentioned at least three times today! Because the fanboys need a target for ad hom, they've nothing on topic.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 9:22am

Re: Re: Dang, out_of_the_blue's not going to like this, is he?
Hello ootb.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 9:26am

Once a company stops innovating, it starts litigating.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 9:59am

Re: Re: Dang, out_of_the_blue's not going to like this, is he?
Wow what a joke your comment is. I feel like voting UT funniest comment but that would just encourage you to keep writing lies.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:01am

Re: Re: Re: Dang, out_of_the_blue's not going to like this, is he?
It not UT
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:07am

Re:

My very first computer (a 386 that leapfrogged my computer mentors' model! "Why do you need 24 megs of RAM, man?"), I remmed out the 'win' command in the startup bat file and ran it from a command line because I liked feeling that I was more into the guts of the machine.

So, after hearing how evil Micro$oft was, I checked into Apple...and found I couldn't even do THAT?

You...do realize that you can't do that in an MS operating system anymore either, right?
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Jinxed (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:13am

"Apple sued..."

Getting tired of seeing this is the only damn thing the company can do anymore.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:33am

If they really cared about the end users, as they claim, wouldn't they stop the 'fake' products at the source & offer information so repair people could spot 'dangerous' fakes?

In any of the states where Apple is fighting the law. just bring up the battery thing.
We made the machine secretly work WORSE, b/c we were getting a huge amount of money replacing a battery & it drove sales of the newest iThingy.
When this was made public, suddenly they started back peddling said they would be honest about what was happening... oh and the price to replace the battery was slashed down to about twice what you'd pay online to get one. Their costs to get the battery didn't sudden magically change, the effort to get into the iThingy didn't get easier, changing the connection didn't get easier... but somehow they were able to slash their very high price down to an almost reasonable number.
This wasn't from some heartfelt gesture, this was trying to deal with the PR nightmare that they made older phones work worse (so they would keep working!!) & they were charging a huge amount to replace the battery & nudge people towards the latest new shiny thing.... that secretly would do the same thing if not for some evil bastard opening up their phone & finding out what the hell was going on.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 10:45am

Re:
You can build your own Apple-compatible machine. You just have to use specific parts because OSX doesn't carry drivers for All The Things like Windows does (or supports). It's not that their machines are a "walled garden", they just focussed on supporting specific hardware very well rather than trying to support everything poorly.

I'm no Apple fanboi (I use both Windows and OSX daily) but your talking point is flawed. Both have their pros and cons.
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McGyver (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 11:53am

Re: Sorry Karl,
Yes, the old "It's the motherboard" answer...
It's a defective power supply or loose connector, but it's always the motherboard and it's going to cost more to repair than to replace.
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Uriel-238 (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 12:38pm

What happened to the screens?
The the repair shop get the seized screens back, or are they still in the hands of customs?

If Apple can prevent Huseby's shop from getting supplies, it can still kill its competition with Apple's repair monopoly.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 1:49pm

Re: but are Apple "counterfeit" parts necessarily counterfeit?
according to louis rossman they are refurbished parts.

Apple screen glass breaks but display is still good. Repair shop sends these screens to china and has the glass replaced creating a refurbished part. Repair shop gets back Apple screen with Apple part numbers so phone can't be bricked by Apple latter with update like they did with fingerprint scanners.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 1:53pm

Re: Re:
Doesn't their OS license agreement state that the OS can only be installed on Apple approved systems/configurations? So basically you found apple compatible parts that apple originally manufactured for use in their closed system. So you bought an apple computer and had them customize a few parts, okay.

Apple has always let customers choose their own cover color, as long as the choice was white.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 1:56pm

Re: Re:
Yes, they each have their pros and cons. However the differences between the two platforms are shrinking. Eventually it won't matter what you buy because they will either merge or both will be killed off by new compation.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 2:19pm

Re: Re: Re:
These days, the most used consumer operating system is Android.
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trollificus (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 2:28pm

Re: Re:
I had heard. but I stopped even trying to be more "hands on" a while ago anyway. I'm not surprised that MS traded in one of their (unintentionally?) positive features for $$$ and control.
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Thad, 23 Apr 2018 @ 2:58pm

Re: Re: Re:
Fair enough. (That was me; forgot to put my name on it. At least, I assume you're replying to my post; I've got anons blocked, so I can't actually see the post you're responding to.)

I don't know how important the distinction between booting to a command line and opening a command line inside a graphical environment is, really. I'm a Linux user, and I'm perfectly comfortable in a terminal, but if I'm actually dropping to a VT (as opposed to opening a Terminal app inside X), then it means Something Has Gone Wrong.

There are a lot of reasons I prefer not to use MacOS or Windows. But "because if I want to use a terminal I have to open it in a window" isn't one of them.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 3:35pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
That question was answered for many people many years ago when Windows first came out, and Microsoft insisted that legacy DOS programs could be run inside a window, which people quickly discovered was not quite true. The same broken promises were made for every new iteration of Windows.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 3:46pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Does that mean Dosbox and Wine under Linux give beter backwards compatibility for DOS and Windows software than windows does?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 5:24pm

Replying to yourself in the third person makes you sound crazy.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 5:27pm

If by saying fear and awe you ment ridicule and contempt, than yes, yes we do.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 6:50pm

Re: Re:
Fell for the bait hook line and sinker, did we? Nice going, jackass.
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The Wanderer (profile), 23 Apr 2018 @ 8:02pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yes.
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William Stack, 23 Apr 2018 @ 9:12pm

Re: Apple
Ever read Animal Farm?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2018 @ 11:50pm

simple solution: revoke the Apple trademark (yes, really)
there should be a simple law for this: if you use the trademark as a bludgeon to prevent 3rd party repairs then you automatically LOSE the rights to that trademark.

Your lawyer sends a snot-o-gram about not being allowed by their trademark to repair a device that i own? Their trademark should just go *poof*. Worldwide.

when the customer clearly knows that he's buying a 3rd party replacement part that conforms to all specs for that part and the manufacturer clearly markets such parts as 3rd party replacement parts and you still persist, then you don't deserve to have a trademark in the first place. What you really want/need are handcuffs.

The purpose of the trademark system is to clearly mark the source ORIGIN of a product/service for customers to make an INFORMED decision, not to prevent others from making available similar or compatible products/services when they are clearly labelled as being 3rd party ones.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Apr 2018 @ 2:29am

Re: Re:
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Ano, 24 Apr 2018 @ 2:32am

Re: Re: Re: H a C K I N T O S H ref?
Was that a ref to a hackintosh in the initial comment? ( poor man's computer running Apple's OS, running 100% if you are very picky/ choosy about the parts, and lucky - in that order)
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Uriel-238 (profile), 24 Apr 2018 @ 1:07pm

Trademark abuse
When governments care to protect public interests (including consumer interests) then it might create a watchdog institution to look for abuse of trademarks (or abuse of other IP laws) of which there are plenty, the current incident showing one of them.

Right now, companies have found that it's more profitable contesting laws than adjusting their services to conform to consumer protections, so they do the former.

In the US, regulatory capture is epidemic. I don't know the case in Norway.
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