Apple Sues Electronics Recycler For Reselling Over 100,000 iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches

Apple has recently filed a lawsuit against Canadian electronics recycling company Geep after it caught the Canadian company illegally selling more than 100,000 Apple devices that were supposed to be recycled. In response to Apple's allegations, Geep has denied that they are not responsible for this because only three of their employees were involved in the illegal act. However, after being exposed, it was known that these employees were the executives of Geep.

Under the contract between Apple and Geep, products such as the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch must be separated and recycled by components, but Geep illegally sells more than 100,000 of their devices for profits, more than 103,845 devices to be exact. After learning of this, the iPhone maker filed a complaint in January last year. According to the company, this scheme began in late 2017 or early 2018. Soon after, they stopped cooperating with Geep when they discovered this illegal behavior.

So they are now claiming compensation from Geep, which is equal to the total profit of all stolen devices, estimated at about 31 million Canadian dollars (about 23.3 million USD). However, on the Geep side, they want the three executives to be held accountable for this action and compensate Apple, not the business itself if the evidence is correct.

So how did Apple find out about this scheme?

The Cupertino-based giant ran an audit, targeting Geep warehouses at the time. By checking the serial number and finding that 18% of devices sent to Geep have been activated and are on some carriers' networks. Moreover, the company also discovered that the number of stolen devices is more than the announced 103,845 devices because the iPad and Apple Watch can only be compatible with Wi-Fi, hence, cannot be found on the network of service providers.

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