Filed under: iPod Family, Apple
Apple lawsuit targets "iPod Mechanic"
'Tis better to give than to receive, so Apple is giving some legal love by filing trademark and fraud suits against Portage, Michigan businessman Nicholas Woodhams.Woodhams operates an online iPod repair business called iPod Mechanic. Apple claims they asked Woodhams to stop using the iPod trademark back in 2006 and that the parties came to an agreement to have Woodhams stop using the iPod Mechanic name in January, 2007 and park the ipodmechanic.com domain name two months later. Apple says those conditions were never met. A quick browse to ipodmechanic.com shows that it now redirects to imechanic.com. The company name is still iPod Mechanic.
But wait, there's more! Apple accuses Woodhams of defrauding them by convincing the company to send him free repair parts. Woodhams allegedly scammed Apple's iPod shuffle Advance Replacement Program in 2007, filling out online forms for customers using a credit card as insurance that the broken shuffle would be returned. Apple claims that Woodhams would immediately decline charges made by Apple when the broken shuffles didn't show, and then sold the iPods at a heavy discount. Apple claims this scheme cost them over $75,000.
Woodhams is also accused of swapping back plates on out-of-warranty iPods for those still covered by a warranty in order to avoid paying for parts and repair charges. All of the offenses are viewed as deliberate, so Apple is seeking triple damages and the discontinuation of the iPod Mechanic name and website.
[Via Apple Insider]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
LuminousNerd said 9:25AM on 6-29-2008
Hmm, sounds like he's gonna get what's coming.
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Craig said 9:59AM on 6-29-2008
Concerning the fraud charges, I hope he gets punished fully.
The use of iPod to describe his business, ie repairing ipods is acceptable to me, and probably a lot of other people. I would say it's a fair use of the iPod trademark, just as the use of Apple is for this blog. Of course Apple being just like every other greedy mega corp, they say differently, and act differently towards others.
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Hawkman said 10:18AM on 6-29-2008
In fairness, this is specifically outlawed by their trademark terms of use. And if they gave him good warning, like they say - then I don't blame them for throwing the book at him.
ZeroCorpse said 10:16AM on 6-29-2008
Yeah. You can't really defend this guy's actions. He knowingly defrauded Apple AND his customers. You can read forums at iLounge to see what kind of charlatan he is.
This isn't just a case of using the iPod trademark to build up a false association between his business and Apple. This is a case where the guy has done every shifty thing he could to cut corners and cheat everyone involved, so that he may profit.
With the dollar figures Apple is throwing around (he basically *stole* $75,000 from them in just the shuffle scam alone) he's lucky he's not headed for prison.
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steve ballmer said 10:51AM on 6-29-2008
Apple hates their customers and support companies! you people still love them?
Sheesh!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
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jopari said 11:13AM on 6-29-2008
TUAW editors: When is this guy gonna get banned for spamming?
James Donevan said 11:04AM on 6-29-2008
"The use of iPod to describe his business, ie repairing ipods is acceptable to me, and probably a lot of other people."
He is not using iPod to describe his business. Rather he is suing it as part of his business name. Legitimate companies describe their businesses with descriptive phrases after their company name, ie "specializing in repairing iPods" to avoid exactly this situation.
Do you know any camera repair businesses that call themselves the Nikon Repairer? How about the Sony Fix it Shop? How about the Epson Fixer Upper? Or the Belkin Repairman? The Toshiba Mechanic? Of course not. No company allows its trademarks to be used in this manner as customers may well infer liability (for lost goods, faulty workmanship, poor service, etc) rests with the trademark holder.
Moreover if you do a quick Google on this company you'll realize it has a very poor reputation dating back several years - and certainly merits no support in this situation.
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Craig said 11:49AM on 6-29-2008
So The Unofficial Apple Weblog is acceptable, but the iPod Mechanic isn't? What about MacUser? MacWorld? These are all businesses that use trademarks in their business name.
The iPod Mechanic does describe his business, he is a mechanic for iPods. That he is a thief should be immaterial to that argument.
Doesn't it come under Fair Use?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_use
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Jon said 12:33PM on 6-29-2008
I created a few web apps for the iPhone and submitted them to Apple's directory. I got an email back saying that they couldn't put them up because they were called "iPhone _____" and that by putting iPhone at the beginning, people might be mislead into thinking it was an officially-endorsed product. They suggested changing it to "_____ for iPhone". So I guess the same applies here.
KeynoteKen said 7:33AM on 6-30-2008
A quick search of Apple's Legal pages will lead to more specifically relevant information than Wikipedia in that these are the actual rules set up by Apple.
http://www.apple.com/legal/
The info here answers a couple of your questions.
Blair Cartwright said 12:23PM on 6-29-2008
I tried to use this guy to repair my 20gb iPod and all he did was upgrade the hard drive, it still doesn't work. Any efforts to contact him after it returned were ignored. I hope Apple takes him to the cleaners, the guy is a fraud and deserves what's coming to him.
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G. Sassoverde said 12:16PM on 6-29-2008
However Apple fries this guy is fine by me. iPodMechanic was a fairly decent repair service when they got started, but they've grown way too fast and customer service has just plummeted. Recently they took FOUR MONTHS to complete a simple repair, during which they wouldn't respond to a single email. It finally took a PayPal proceeding to get their attention. They deserve whatever they get; I'll certainly never patronize them again.
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(01) said 1:35PM on 6-29-2008
I was about to feel sorry for this guy, but what he's doing is totally bogus. It's on thing to specialize in the repair of out-of warranty iPods, but scamming both the customers and Apple is just shade. Throw the book at him
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Rick said 2:50PM on 6-29-2008
Note to self: Don't piss off Apple Legal.
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Allen said 6:44PM on 6-30-2008
This guy ripped me off big time! I hope Apple gets every penny they're after from this jerk!
Their website said they would buy my iPod if I didn't want to fix it. They wanted $150 to fix my iPod. When I told them to just buy it, they said they didn't need that model (1st gen Nano) and that they would bill me $25 to ship it back to them.
Go gettem' Apple!
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Pat L. said 11:05AM on 8-20-2008
I am a federal agent in Grand Rapids, MI, one of the investigators on the criminal case involving iPod Mechanic. If anyone feels they have been victimized or there have been misrepresentations made by this company, you may write out the details and email them to me.
I would need to know What kind of iPod you sent, the serial number if you know it, when did you send it, what communication, if any, you have had. If you did hear back from him, did he give you the diagnosis for your unit, what was the diagnosis, and the proposed cost of fixing it. Or did he tell you it was not fixable, and offer to pay you anything for it, and did you ever buy an iPod from his website in the past? And anything else you think might be helpful. My email address is pjlocke@uspis.gov Thank you.