Teen faces court suits from Apple for White iPhone conversion kits

May 27, 2011 By Molly McHugh

The teenage mind behind the White iPhone 4 conversion kits will now face Apple.

Remember those White iPhone kits that took desperate Apple fanboys by storm? Well Apple was none too happy about them and has tracked down their creator: 17-year-old Fei Lam. Way back in November of 2010, Lam couldn’t take the wait for the White iPhone any longer, ordered parts from Apple manufacturer Foxconn, and made a cool $130,000 off the kits (although he refutes it’s this much).

Pretty impressive for someone who hasn’t even graduated high school. Unfortunately, Apple wasn’t quite as taken with Lam’s success. Mac Rumors reports that though a private investigator has had his eye on Lam and his site, WhiteiPhone4Now.com (which no longer exists), Apple isn’t stopping there and has filed suit against the teenager and his parents. The litigation states Lam infringed upon Apple patents as well as violated its trademark and used “deceptive practices” by creating and selling the kits. Apple said these sales could confused customers, and also claimed Lam’s parents were involved since he is a minor.

Luckily, it seems like Apple is more intent on scaring Lam than actually suing him for all he’s worth. At the same time it filed to sue Lam, the company’s legal team filed a “dismissal without prejudice,” which means Apple can sue in the future should it choose to. But this probably means an out-of-court settlement has been reached.

Had an agreement not been reached, the Lam family would have had to turn over all profits from the kits, paid Apple back for everything it spent on pursuing this case, and halted sales.

In an instant message interview with Fast Company, Lam revealed he wasn’t entirely sure what the status of the case and its dismissal were and that he will be meeting with Apple’s legal team in New York within the next month. He also mentioned he’s working on a new startup, SimilarInterests.org, a site that connects you with people who have the same interests as you do. Given Lam’s innovative track record, we’ll be keeping an eye on it.

Showing 15 comments

Ian Ward at 7:07pm 28th May 2011 Apple has become a hyper paranoid company. If Steve Jobs & Tim Cook came down from their thrones just for a day they'd wake up & sign the kid to a contract. That would be extremely savvy, but no, they are behaving even worse than MicroDaft at the very height of their corporate arrogance. They bring products to market way before they have been bedded into their final form. I bought one of the first Macbook Airs in Australia with Applecare for 3 yrs. The screen came loose because it was a weak structure. They changed it on the next generations to sthg more like the other Macbooks. Do you think they honored the Applecare ? Fat chance. I am over Apple. Their day will come when people eventually wise up to the marketing hype and media hoopla. Their undoing will come from the extremely high expectations they themselves have created.
Iván Imhof at 7:03pm 28th May 2011 Share, Where is the innovation? He just an "under-the-counter" trader... smart kid, but just discovered a possible gap in the regulation. He didn't do any innovations, probably knows well how the Chinese business works, same way they make fake products and illegal copies of virtually everything they got in their hands and sell to anybody and there's no legal way to stop them.
Iván Imhof at 6:50pm 28th May 2011 One one hand, smart kid. On other hand he's stupid. He should have known Apple will do some serious steps against him for crossing their way. Actually, I wonder how Foxconn allowed to sell officially non-released parts to a noname teen's mass order, but maybe that's the way of business in China. I'm rather surprised about why Apple waited so long to sue him.
Cow Layfo at 5:52pm 28th May 2011 If this were any other company but Apple, people would be REALLY losing their shit over this. But it's Apple. All the Apple Devotees are too busy masturbating over the idea of yet another iPad to be bothered by this.
Shane Berzins at 5:36pm 28th May 2011 So the innovators are getting punished now? But it's fine to BUY a crappy angry birds case for your phone :/... You know I just don't get it
Scott Aron Bloom at 5:31pm 28th May 2011 It doesnt sound like he made it, or had it made.. he simply bought the part from the same manufacturer as apple used.. Blame them.. THis is silly..
Leandro Ariel Pezzente at 10:26am 28th May 2011 Dislike !
Juan Frias at 5:17pm 28th May 2011 it should of had an almost clone microsoft logo haha
Stephan Brunet at 4:54pm 28th May 2011 If the conversion kits had the apple logo on then then they are within their rights. If Lam would have made it without the apple logo then there is nothing they can do about it.
Adam Lawrence at 4:53pm 28th May 2011 With the headline, I got upset. But then I read what the kid did and.. well, it's overzealous to sue him but the kid did some borderline retarded stuff.
David Nakamura at 4:52pm 28th May 2011 Maybe Anonymous will get his back.
Adam Sarwar at 4:48pm 28th May 2011 Get lost Apple! Big bully.
Stephen Editing Hirst at 4:47pm 28th May 2011 i'm starting to think suing is done for the pure buzz now lol
Aaron Hopkins at 4:46pm 28th May 2011 Seriously Apple, get over yourself...
Baronor at 12:46am 28th May 2011 This is insane. Why doesn't Apple get it's my phone once I bought it? I can make modifications to it and I can sell that mod to others. Or maybe Apple should quit making iPhones because they only modified Alex Bell's idea.