In 2022, a man named Huang from Kaohsiung City bought hundreds of counterfeit goods and chargers from China’s Taobao and was seized by customs. Although the buyer claimed that he had wrongfully bought “original and genuine products,” the Taiwanese court did not accept the case and sentenced him to 5 months in prison for trademark infringement. Apple demanded 200,000 yuan in compensation.
What are the criminal liabilities for buying 3C counterfeit goods online? How to buy genuine Apple peripherals? The following is an explanation:
Image source: Zhongtian News
In December 2022, Huang Nan from Kaohsiung purchased 400 charging cables and 200 power adapters with the Apple trademark from Taobao. After being inspected by Taipei customs officers and deemed suspicious, they sent them for identification and found that they were all fake goods. Although Mr. Huang denied that he was involved in trademark law violations, he also argued that “I asked on Taobao, and the other party said that it was an original product and the price was the wholesale price.” However, the court judge believed that Huang was an online seller in Taiwan selling 3C products. He purchased such a large amount of connecting cables and power adapters without original certification documents and failed to provide any conversation records or proof of payment. This was obviously unnatural. In the end, the Qiaotou District Court judge did not accept the case. In addition to confiscating the batch of counterfeit goods, he was sentenced to five months in prison for trademark infringement and Yike was fined NT$150,000.
In addition, the American company Apple also filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Huang, requesting damages. The judge used 500 yuan as the basis for calculating compensation. Considering that the product had not entered the market and Mr. Huang had no income in the previous two years, he believed that multiplying by 400 times was more reasonable. Therefore, he awarded a compensation of 200,000 yuan, and the total compensation must be 350,000 yuan.Mr. Huang is an e-commerce businessman specializing in online shopping in Taiwan. He introduced a large number of products bearing the Apple trademark but claimed that he was buying genuine products. This was clearly a lie. Fortunately, the legal system was open and he was not deceived by the lies of the industry.
What does it cost to buy fake Apple accessories on Taobao? Here is a summary video and detailed instructions:
1. What are the criminal liabilities for purchasing 3C counterfeit goods online?
According to Taiwan’s High Prosecutor’s Office, people who buy counterfeit products on foreign websites may commit the following criminal liabilities:
A. Violation of trademark law and criminal law:
a. The offender “knowingly” sells counterfeit goods and has infringed upon the trademark rights of others. He may have violated Article 97 of the Trademark Law and is subject to the crime of illegally selling goods that infringe trademark rights. He may be sentenced to imprisonment of not more than one year, short-term detention, or a fine of not more than NT$50,000.
b. If the perpetrator “knows” that the counterfeit product is a counterfeit product and sells it falsely as the genuine product, consumers will fall into a mistake and mistakenly believe that the product is genuine and purchase the product. He may also be guilty of the crime of fraud under Paragraph 1 of Article 339 of the Criminal Law and be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, short-term detention, or a fine of not more than 500,000 yuan.
c. If the perpetrator falsely claims to be genuine to the public and sells the product through communication tools such as auction websites, online live broadcasts, and TV shopping, it may constitute the crime of aggravated fraud under Article 339-4 of the Criminal Code, and the person may be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than seven years, and may be fined not more than one million yuan.
B. Civil litigation:
The sale of counterfeit goods may involve civil liability for compensation. Consumers can request damages from the seller or terminate the contract in accordance with the Consumer Protection Law and the Civil Code. The trademark owner can request compensation for damages caused by the infringement of trademark rights in accordance with the Trademark Law and the Civil Code.
Among them, the trademark owner requested compensation for the damage suffered and lost profits in accordance with Article 216 of the Civil Code, including an amount up to 1,500 times the retail unit price of the seized goods.
C. Confiscate the counterfeit goods and impose a fine of less than three times the price of the goods:
In order to crack down on counterfeit products that infringe patent rights, trademark rights or copyrights, a new system will be launched in June 2025. Small-amount fine exemptions for imported counterfeit goods will no longer apply. Passengers who purchase fake brand-name bags, watches, 3C products and other counterfeit products will still be confiscated even if the price does not exceed 5,000 yuan, and a fine of less than three times the price of the goods will be imposed. No matter how high or low the value is, the fine will not be exempted.
The way to determine the “price” of counterfeit goods is not just based on the purchase cost, but rather the price of the genuine product. Taking the case of Huang Nan, starting from June 2025, the price of the genuine product will be used as the benchmark for penalties to reflect the actual losses caused to the trademark owner, rather than just the low cost of the counterfeiters.
Image source: tv news
2. How to buy genuine Apple peripherals?
A. Most of the cheap Apple adapters are fakes:
In the past, cheap original Apple accessories mainly came from a large number of parallel imports into China, and unused original chargers and charging cables were sold at low prices. However, for environmental protection purposes, Apple no longer includes power adapters in the packaging boxes of iPhone models, so any cheap Apple original adapters on the Internet are almost always fake!
If you want to purchase the original USB power adapter, you can refer to the official Apple provided [USB power adapter identification method】。
B. Most of the cheap Apple transmission cables are fake:
The current UPS-C charging cable that comes with the iPhone is a 1-meter-long braided charging transmission cable with USB-C connectors on both ends. As long as it is not of this specification, it is basically fake.
The genuine Apple USP-C charging transmission cable can be inspected from three aspects: the printed information on the appearance of the cable, the details of the connector, and the charging and transmission response of the device.Please refer to [How to identify the UPS-C charging transmission cable that comes with iPhone]This article】。
C. If you want to buy genuine Apple products, please go to an Apple authorized store. If you have limited budget, please buy third-party qualified products:
Since Apple charging cables and power adapters have adopted UPS-C specifications, they are no longer unique Lightning connectors. If you want to uphold the brand value, please go directly to Apple’s official website or Apple authorized store to buy, so as not to buy fakes; if you have a limited budget, you can directly purchase qualified products from third parties that meet the specifications, the price is lower and the quality is guaranteed.
Special reminder: Buying counterfeit Apple chargers must not only face legal prosecution and compensation,becauseCounterfeit Apple charging accessories often do not meet safety specifications and may cause property and personal safety problems.，It is recommended not to be greedy for petty gains, as the gains outweigh the losses.
Image source: free times
Source: KOCPC Chinese