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June 27, 2008

legal

Apple throws wrench in iPod Mechanic’s schemes

Posted Jun. 27, ’08, 1:23 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Legal

iPod MechanicLet me put forth this modest proposal: if you plan on running a company that fixes iPod, may I suggest you not be so bold as to use a trademarked word like “iPod” in the name? Also, while you’re at it, you’d probably better not (allegedly) commit fraud while carrying out your repairs. Because that would be bad.

Nicholas Woodhams, who runs Michigan-based iPod Mechanic, has found himself on the receiving end of a lawsuit which claims that not only did he fail to stop using “iPod” in his business’s name in 2006, after he’d agreed to do so, but furthermore engaged in fraud by taking advantage of Apple’s warranty service. The suit says that Woodhams got Apple to repair broken out-of-warranty iPods by swapping their back cases with units that were still under warranty. He also supposedly took advantage of a replacement program for iPod shuffles by writing the names of his customers on the appropriate forms, receiving new replacement units, then denying credit card charges from Apple when he failed to ship the old units back to them.

Apple claims that they suffered damages of $75,000 as a result of Woodhams’s actions, and the company is seeking triple dog dares damages on the basis of the acts being deliberate. Dastardly! If only this alleged criminal mastermind had turned his genius to the powers of good—think what he could have accomplished.


2 Comments

Ken said:

Holy crp! This guy's insane.

June 27, 2008 3:02 PM
Charles said:

The trademark part of the case sounds extremely frivolous, as it is entirely descriptive. Their business model is fixing iPods, not selling something else called an iPod. It would be like Apple suing Macworld for use of the word "Mac" to describe the magazine.

The fraud allegations, on the other hand, sound more worthwhile.

June 28, 2008 11:43 AM

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