knock-offs

Tablet knockoffs running rampant, brand firm says

Shoppers may need to be careful when hunting for a deal on a tablet online, as they are at risk of picking up a knockoff, a new report says.

San Francisco-based enterprise brand protection company MarkMonitor today released results from its latest Brandjacking Index, a report that looks at how brands being "abused" online. It found more than 23,000 listings "for clones, suspected counterfeits, or gray market" tablet computers in a single day earlier this year.

The firm says it spent a day in July tracking the brands of five tablet makers in 23 online … Read more

Fake NY Apple stores told to surrender faux goods

Two privately owned stores in Queens, N.Y., accused of peddling unauthorized Apple accessories have agreed to surrender any fake Apple products in their inventories, according to a proposed settlement registered today in federal court in Brooklyn.

The settlement, if approved, would resolve a trademark-infringement lawsuit filed in July against defendants including Apple Story Inc and FunZone Inc, two shops in the Chinatown section of Flushing, Queens. The shops--which sell cases, headsets, and other accessories for Apple products--still say they haven't violated any Apple trademarks.

According to the trademark infringement suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York, Apple frowned upon the news that there were "Apple stores" in New York that the company didn't know about back in Cupertino. And it was probably a less-than-Lex Luthor/evil genius move for the owners of said stores to name one of them "The Apple Story." That may have been a bit of a giveaway, unless we were supposed to think the shop was a museum dedicated to the history of Granny Smiths. … Read more

A video tour of Apple store knock-off in China

Photos of the knock-off Apple retail stores in China not good enough for you? NBC's "Today" show headed to Kunming, a city in the southwest of the country, that houses just such a store to capture it on film.

In the video, which was picked up by Cult of Mac, NBC reporter Adrienne Mong heads inside to scope out the trimmings on the Kunming store--the same one that made headlines last week after being profiled by a blogger with the handle BirdAbroad.

Inside, visitors poke at iPads, iPhones, and Apple notebook computers atop wooden tables while staffers stock a dizzying array of accessories on nearby walls. As Mong notes, the surroundings are "convincing," right down to the clear acrylic signage and gadget stands.

Store employees, donning blue T-shirts with the Apple logo and the company's signature name tag lanyard stand nearby, with one telling Mong she believes the media have "distorted the facts" about the operation. … Read more

Fake iPhone costs $75 in the Philippines

Plenty of knock-off iPhones have surfaced over the years, but here's a fresh look at a model that's being sold today in the Philippines under the name i9 iPhone. According to CNET reader Samuel Sandoval, who shot a short video of the phone (Facebook sign-in required), it costs around $75 and has dual-SIM slots, which means you can be on two different carriers at the same time. There's even a nice Apple logo on the back of the phone.

It's hard to tell exactly what OS the i9 runs. Though it looks like the iPhone OS … Read more