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Comment by KennyBlanken | Hacker News Reader

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I think you're greatly misrepresenting the story. The reason why one would want products that are identical to official ones (from a technical standpoint), is because they will perform better (compared to a traditional knock-off). Looking at the reddit post where the evidence for this story seems to be compiled [0], it would seem that he does exactly that. He purchases batteries from factories that over-manufacture (or were no longer under contract to make) official Apple parts. He asked them before shipping to remove/sharpie over the logo, in order to prevent them from being considered counterfeit. He was angry that Apple was able to have Customs seize products which did not belong to them and were not stolen from them (apparently this technique did not work a few times).

I definitely think that he may not have told the whole truth, but greedy sleaze-bag liar is not how he comes out in this story (at least for me).

[0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/9pow06/louis_rossman...

Seems like he should just ask the seller to send a new batch, and this time be more careful to sharpie over the marks, seeing as its their screwup.

Ha! No, Chinese factories don’t own up to mistakes. They make excuses and lie, even if it is blatantly obvious it is their fault. (Been working with brands manufacturing in China for 20 years)

Is going over the logo with a sharpie really sufficient to get around counterfeiting restrictions? Serious question as I’m not familiar with the laws. It seems like it may be possible to just remove the sharpie with some solvent and restore the original logo.

Also he was like, 100% in the wrong with regards to his issue in NY.

But its fine, I don't mind a bit of a used car salesman vibe. I still respect his work on RtR

None of that is even vaguely true, haha. What, on hacker news you're going to argue that apple's insane import restrictions are fair?

They're real apple parts from the real factory. They are genuine. Thats the whole point. Repeatedly he has said that removing the logos is better for him but that the logos are just on the parts and he requests they be removed from what he buys because duh, they are real parts!

Apple not wanting to sell the parts to rossman doesn't make them less real or functional or his business ivnalid, Lol. Apple is pure evil and would rather every spare part for every device be destroyed and the ewaste pile up rather than be sold to repair shops.

Even if they are physically identical, that does not make them “genuine”. A genuine part will also typically come with a warranty that the seller will honor in case of a defect.

And how can you be sure that they are “real apple parts from the real Apple factory”? Because some factory on the other side of the world, who in the best case have proven that they are willing to engage in shady business practices by violating their agreement with Apple, says so? How do you know they aren’t parts that failed some quality control check? Or that they aren’t just outright counterfeit?

The thing that makes an Apple part genuine is Apple’s word, their reputation, and willingness to stand behind it.

You know as well as I do those warranties don't last as long as we'd like them to.

? There word is worthless, their reputation is tainted beyond repair and they stand behind anything that makes them money. Listen to yourself, defending a soulless Moloch like a mum and pop store while they trample mum and pop stores. There is a certain spark of ghost hacked insanity to these cooperate fanbois you find nowhere else..

>They're real apple parts from the real factory. They are genuine. Thats the whole point. Repeatedly he has said that removing the logos is better for him but that the logos are just on the parts and he requests they be removed from what he buys because duh, they are real parts!

So if I was able to convince the contract manufacturer of LV bags to sell me "real" (but unauthorized) LV bags, I should be able to import them into the US and not have CBP seize them? I don't think trademark law has a "but if it's identical to the real thing" exception.

Macrumors user detected

unpopular counter opinion: copyright infringement is good, actually. I don't care that they had Apple's logos on it, it's based that Louis found a way to violate their copyrights on that, we need more like that not less.

I also don't like copyright too much, but that's trademark violation. It misleads people into thinking it's an Apple production which is dishonest.

Honestly I find apple's dickery that space a huge problem because they make their repairs prohibitively economically expensive so that it makes more sense to just buy a new phone and I think louis is fighting a very uphill battle against Apple to make their stuff repairable. I would not go to an authorized repair center with them since I watch his stuff I think the authorized repair guys couldn't repair their way out of a paper bag.

For someone so keen on copyright infringement, you sure have a poor grasp of what copyright is.

This is a gross mean-spirited characterization of the guy. Greedy is a rather interesting term for you to use to disparage him. Is that a dog whistle I hear?

I feel Rossmann in general works for the greater good in the area of right to repair. Is he always right? Certainly not. Is he a blowhard? He can be at times. Most activists are.

You’re using the phrase dog whistle incorrectly.

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