LOUISVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Louisville seized eight shipments and a total of 817 pairs of fake Apple AirPods on Wednesday, according to a release issued by CBP.
Officials said the Airpods appeared to be in violation of Apple’s protected AirPods three-dimensional configuration trademark. Officers reached out to Import Specialists from CBP’s Electronics Center of Excellence and Expertise who ultimately determined the merchandise was not genuine and violated Apple’s recorded trademark rights.
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price would have been $331,360 had these been genuine, CBP said. All of the shipments were coming from Hong Kong and were destined for various locations like Georgia, New York, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, New Jersey and Quebec City, Canada.
“E-commerce is a growing segment of the U.S. economy, driven by high-volume, low-value shipments entering our ports of entry,” said Louisville Port Director Thomas Mahn. “Our officers are committed to protecting our citizens and enforcing U.S. laws to make sure legal trade continues but illicit shipments like this one do not reach unsuspecting consumers.”
CBP has made other significant seizures of counterfeit Airpods at other ports of entry. In two separate seizures last month, CBP officers in Cincinnati seized one shipment containing 36,000 fake Airpods and a week later seized another shipment containing 23,900 fake Airpods.
