In a press release to The Verge, a US Customs and Border Safety spokesperson has defended the company’s seizure of two,000 pairs of OnePlus Buds at JFK airport on August thirty first. Final night time, CBP publicized the motion and described the OnePlus Buds as “counterfeit Apple AirPods,” which set off a wave of controversy. It appeared like a attainable gaffe by border officers who in some way didn’t notice they had been blocking a real product, and OnePlus has additionally been mocked for even discovering itself on this state of affairs, due to the similarities between its personal earbuds and AirPods.
However CBP’s assertion appears to rule out this being a mistake. What stays unanswered is why the OnePlus Buds drew such scrutiny — weeks after that they had already gone on sale within the US — when the market is flooded with AirPods knockoffs.
“Upon analyzing the cargo in query, a CBP import specialist decided that the topic earbuds appeared to violate Apple’s configuration trademark. Apple has configuration emblems on their model of earbuds, and has recorded these emblems with CBP,” the spokesperson stated. Configuration emblems cowl the overall look of a product, in the event you had been questioning. “Based mostly on that dedication, CBP officers at JFK Airport have seized the cargo underneath 19 USC 1526 (e).”
The CBP spokesperson additionally tried to handle the widespread response that many individuals have needed to this incident: couldn’t their officers inform that the OnePlus Buds had been a real product (and never a “counterfeit” posing as AirPods) simply by wanting on the field and branding? “CBP’s seizure of the earbuds in query is unrelated to the photographs or language on the field An organization doesn’t need to put an ‘Apple’ wordmark or design on their merchandise to violate these emblems.”
OnePlus (or whoever imported the OnePlus Buds) “may have many alternatives by means of the adjudication course of to offer proof that their product doesn’t violate the related recorded emblems,” in line with the CBP spokesperson. Reached earlier in the present day, OnePlus declined to touch upon the seizure. The corporate declined once more after seeing the CBP’s assertion.
