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Comment by gjsman-1000 | Hacker News Reader

In the first situation from the article, it explicitly states briefly that they are “hybrid” parts:

> The screens that were seized are “hybrid” parts: the screens are third-party, but use a few original Apple parts like a flex cable that connects the screen to the phone. That invisible, internal part is marked with an Apple logo, which is enough to let the CBP seize the entire shipment.

Which brings up my Chanel handbag analogy of an Apple-branded flex cable, “sewn” onto a part they did not make; to create what CBP may reasonably interpret as a counterfeit product consistent with how “hybrids” in other categories are treated.

As for OnePlus; that one never made any sense and probably embarrassed Apple too because… it’s not like Walmart has had any problem selling AirPods knockoffs.

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I think your accidentally misinterpreting the law

As explaine by the article, counterfeiting involves pretending to be a product it's not. For example, if you sell your hypothetical channel bags as genuine channel bags instead of as generic, no-brand bags, then that would be counterfeiting because you're pretending they're something that it's not. Using genuine apple parts in third-party screens is more comparable to putting channel bag straps (which, yes, have the channel logo on them) into fake bags and selling them as generic, non-channel bags. Similarly, if you don't label the third party screen as "genuine apple", you're not infringing copyright.

The courts are our usual tool in sussing out this kind of nuance. It's kind of their raison d'être. We haven't gotten totally lost in the weeds yet with, say, automobiles. This "hybrid part" labeling because we don't understand a smartphone as intuitively as a car can make it seem like these are terribly novel concepts but they just aren't.

If Chanel brought their case, they would win. If Apple brought theirs, they would lose.

But it appears they don't have to bring a case at all. Your thought experiment won't be considered. Lucky them.

I take "hybrid" to mean that the screens included a mix of Apple and third-party components. That seems to be consistent with the article's description. What's wrong with that?

The cables are genuine Apple cables. They have the Apple brand on them (inside the product where they can't even be seen) because they were legitimately made by Apple. But the screen as a whole is not being passed off as an Apple product - unlike your Chanel bags.

> As for OnePlus; that one never made any sense and probably embarrassed Apple too because… it’s not like Walmart has had any problem selling AirPods knockoffs.

As it was one shipment rather than the product line, and since CBP confirmed that they had not made a mistake, I suspect something was up with that shipment in particular.

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