"That's not an Apple," the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Twitter announced yesterday upon sharing pictures of seized "counterfeit Apple AirPods." Loud and proud, they probably didn't expect the situation to escalate into what it is today.
The tweet stirred up quite a controversy after people saw that the products that were seized by CBP were actually genuine. "CBP officers at JFK Airport recently seized 2,000 counterfeit Apple AirPods from Hong Kong, valued at $398K had they been genuine," the tweet continued.
One problem, though—the earphones in question weren't AirPods, but rather the new, legitimate OnePlus Buds. Not that all CBP officers should be aware of all the new gadgets on the market, but quick research would've probably saved them from a lot of embarrassment.
More info: Twitter
U.S. Customs bragged about seizing "counterfeit Apple AirPods"
Image credits: oneplus
The "counterfeit" OnePlus Buds originated from Hong Kong and were seized at the John F. Kennedy airport in New York on August 31st. According to the press release, they were meant to reach Nevada (but apparently never did).
However, they probably did not expect to get dragged for their good deeds
Image credits: CBP
“The interception of these counterfeit earbuds is a direct reflection of the vigilance and commitment to mission success by our CBP Officers daily," Troy Miller, Director of CBP’s New York Field Operations, claimed in a statement.
Image credits: CBPNewYorkCity
OnePlus has seen the tweet and even replied to it, having fun with the absurd situation along with others. "Hey, give those back!" read OnePlus' tweet, which amassed over 16k likes.
Because, as it later turned out, the seized goods were actually completely genuine
Image credits: OnePlus_USA
On Monday afternoon, CBP released a statement and offered more details on the controversial decision. According to them, the OnePlus Buds have violated Apple’s “configuration trademark” for AirPods. However, interestingly enough, nowhere in the statement are OnePlus Buds actually mentioned, so there's no knowing whether the officers knew what they were looking at. In their defense, the OnePlus Buds really can be easily confused with AirPods.
The new OnePlus Buds were released back on September 9
Image credits: oneplus
Still, the boxes in the photos taken by CBP clearly say OnePlus Buds. But CBP states that the seizure of the devices “is unrelated to the images or language on the box.”
People are still responding to the original CBP tweet, which is somehow still up. "Why is this still up?" one person ponders the exact same thing as us. "Jesus Christ," someone put it bluntly. What are your thoughts on this?
Here's what people online had to say
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