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13 October 2015Trademarks

US man jailed for distributing counterfeit Apple products

A US man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for distributing fake iPhone and OtterBox goods.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that Florida resident Michael Sanders was charged on October 1 with trafficking counterfeit products.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) discovered a shipment from China containing counterfeit iPhone back plates and OtterBox smartphone cases.

HSI found that Sanders was selling counterfeit phone parts and accessories using e-commerce.

Several thousand counterfeit items were seized from his home.

He also bought remanufactured phones and paired them with counterfeit batteries and chargers, and then placed the items in counterfeit boxes before selling the phones online.

Sanders admitted taking more than $100,000 in sales.

Susan McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa, said: “Intellectual property theft poses a very real public safety threat … the only individuals who benefit from schemes like this are the counterfeiters themselves, and they are benefitting at America’s expense.”

After serving his prison sentence Sanders will supervised for one year.

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