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Apple 3G laptop
http://www.x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14608		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  big_D [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:51 am ]
Post subject:  Apple 3G laptop
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apple-tri ... 2#comments

Apple claim copyright infringement and IP violations against the owner of an Apple prototype... :?

If Apple built the thing, how can it be a copyright infringement or break Apple's IP? That would leave them open to sue every owner of an Apple product.
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Apple 3G laptop
It depends on how it came to leave Apple. If stolen then it is theirs.
Author:  big_D [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 12:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Apple 3G laptop
I agree totally. If it was stolen, the guy has to give it back. But if Apple gave it to an employee or threw it out, then that is a different matter.

But it is the bit about Copyright an iOS infringement that gets my goat. If the product was built by Apple, how can it infringe Apple's Copyright or iOS? If that is the case, either every Apple customer is about to be sued, or Apple will have to sue themselves and they will never be able to build anothervprototype...
Author:  jonbwfc [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Apple 3G laptop
big_D wrote:
I agree totally. If it was stolen, the guy has to give it back. But if Apple gave it to an employee or threw it out, then that is a different matter.

I think it would rather unusual for a company to do either of those things. Even one that isn't as notoriously secretive as Apple. Assuming the auctioner is one of the people who worked on it in the first place then more than likely it's been sat in a cupboard for years and he reasoned nobody wanted it and indeed few people left there even knew of it's existence, so he kept it as a curiosity. The dumb thing wasn't taking it, it was putting it on eBay (or selling/giving it to someone who then put it on eBay) and thereby bringing enormous attention to him/herself.

big_D wrote:
But it is the bit about Copyright an iOS infringement that gets my goat. If the product was built by Apple, how can it infringe Apple's Copyright or iOS? If that is the case, either every Apple customer is about to be sued, or Apple will have to sue themselves and they will never be able to build anothervprototype...

Anyone who buys an Apple product agrees to an EULA, which gives them the right to use the copy of Mac OS/iOS on the device they have bought. This person isn't using the copy they licenced, they're selling it. Potentially, the same legal restrictions would apply to someone selling an iPhone second hand but Apple don't care about them because the iphone isn't a rare or unusual thing. The idea that this has any extra ramifications for ordinary Mac OS/iOS users is bordering on the illogical - it doesn't change the law in any respect at all. Mac OS/iOS users are subject to the same legal restrictions and possibilities they would be if this case didn't exist.

Jon
Author:  Linux_User [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Apple 3G laptop
jonbwfc wrote:
Anyone who buys an Apple product agrees to an EULA, which gives them the right to use the copy of Mac OS/iOS on the device they have bought. This person isn't using the copy they licenced, they're selling it. Potentially, the same legal restrictions would apply to someone selling an iPhone second hand but Apple don't care about them because the iphone isn't a rare or unusual thing. The idea that this has any extra ramifications for ordinary Mac OS/iOS users is bordering on the illogical - it doesn't change the law in any respect at all. Mac OS/iOS users are subject to the same legal restrictions and possibilities they would be if this case didn't exist.

Jon

Assuming that's even the case, that only covers the OS, not the hardware.
Author:  jonbwfc [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 2:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Apple 3G laptop
Linux_User wrote:
Assuming that's even the case, that only covers the OS, not the hardware.

Unless he can produce a receipt, the legal position will most likely be that the hardware remains Apple's property and he has no right to sell it. I'm not sure on American law's view if they physically threw it out but he'd have to prove they did, which I suspect would prove rather tricky.

Jon
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Apple 3G laptop
http://www.cultofmac.com/apple-called-i ... k-pro-back

Quote:
Remember that cool MacBook Pro with built-in 3G that one lucky surfer picked up on Craigslist? It got a lot of attention a couple weeks ago when it was listed on eBay, with bids in excess of $70,000. Unfortunately for its owner, Apple had the listing removed, and now it wants the machine back.

The machine is a 2007 MacBook Pro, but it’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, thanks to that built-in antenna and SIM card slot. Carl Frega originally purchased it on Craigslist from someone who claimed to be an ex-Apple employee, but at the time the machine wasn’t working. Frega repaired it himself and then attempted to sell it on.

Before it ended up on eBay, Frega listed the machine on Cragslist again and successfully sold it. The machine’s new owner took it to an Apple retail store to be looked at by the Genius Bar, citing “random issues,” but didn’t quite get the response they were expecting.

Apple’s Genius refused to repair the machine because of the plethora of third-party components that appears inside it. Here’s what Apple wrote on the invoice:

Opened machine to observe that nearly every internal part was 3rd party; main logic board, optical drive, display, hard drive, top case, and others. Machine number (W8707003Y53) is also not recognized as a valid number.

Proposed Resolution: Denied services; machine has been modified by unauthorized providers beyond repair.

Because Apple refused to repair it, the machine’s new owner believed that Frega had sold them a fake and decided to take him to a small claims court. Frega ended up refunding the buyer $740 and taking back the MacBook Pro.

However, it seems he may not have it for much longer. Thanks to the publicity surrounding the device in recent weeks, Frega got a phone call from the Cupertino camp to say that Apple wants the machine back.
Author:  paulzolo [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Apple 3G laptop
big_D wrote:
I agree totally. If it was stolen, the guy has to give it back. But if Apple gave it to an employee or threw it out, then that is a different matter.


Is it? If Apple gave it to an employee, it may well have had an NDA/no reselling agreement attached to it.

Here in the UK, we have “theft by finding”. For example, if I take something out of a skip, even though it has been disposed of by the owner, it is still legally their property. Throwing something out does not imply cessation of ownership.

I don’t think Apple would throw out a prototype. I would expect it to be destroyed. I get a feeling that this got into the wild by less than honourable methods.
Author:  big_D [ Thu Sep 01, 2011 11:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Apple 3G laptop
But I still don't understand how they can claim IP and Copyright violation, when it is a product that they built!

As I said, if it got into the wild illigitimately, then fair enough. But the IP stuff sounds stupid.
Author:  bobbdobbs [ Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Apple 3G laptop
big_D wrote:
But I still don't understand how they can claim IP and Copyright violation, when it is a product that they built!

As I said, if it got into the wild illigitimately, then fair enough. But the IP stuff sounds stupid.

Its called throwing the kitchen sink defence. You claim violation under everything and anything and hope you get the result you want, you only need one of the allegations to stick.
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