Fake AirPods and Cartier Bracelets Totaling $5.3 Million Seized by Cincinnati CBP

CINCINNATI–-On May 13th, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Cincinnati intercepted two large shipments of Bluetooth audio devices and found 23,900 earbuds that appeared to be in violation of Apple’s protected AirPods configurations. Officers reached out to import specialists from CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise who ultimately determined the merchandise was not genuine and violated Apple’s recorded trademark rights.

Apple has configuration trademarks on their AirPods products and has recorded those trademarks with CBP. Furthermore, a company does not have to put the “Apple” wordmark or design on their products to violate the three-dimensional trademark. In this instance, further inspection of the earbuds revealed that their shape and design were identical to the Apple AirPods configuration.

The earbuds had a declared value of $5,280, but the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price would have been $3.8 million had they been genuine. The shipments, which were coming from Hong Kong, were destined to an address in Dayton, KY.

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/fake-airpods-and-cartier-bracelets-totaling-53-million-seized