Canon U.S.A., Inc. and its parent company, Canon Inc. of Japan, are pleased to announce that the companies have won a lawsuit involving the unauthorized and infringing use of the Canon trademarks and the illegal sale of counterfeit “Canon” merchandise against two defendants in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Judge C. Darnell Jones II entered a Final Consent Judgment on December 12, 2019 prohibiting the defendants from infringing and counterfeiting the valuable Canon trademarks. As part of the resolution, the defendants also paid a significant amount of money to Canon for their unlawful activities.

The legal action against Joey Fang and Kyung “Kay” Kwak resulted from Canon’s investigation into the defendants’ distribution of counterfeit Canon camera batteries on eBay, and is part of Canon’s ongoing efforts to protect Canon consumers’ health and safety from counterfeit products. The complaint, which was filed on October 16, 2019, alleged that defendants’ unfair competition and misuse of the Canon trademarks to mislead the public as to the source and authenticity of the Canon trademarks could put Canon consumers’ safety at risk and damage Canon’s business and reputation. The Canon companies are represented by Mark Schonfeld of Burns & Levinson LLP of Boston, MA and Teri M. Sherman of Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg LLP of Philadelphia, PA.

Canon aggressively pursues counterfeiters in the United States and around the world to protect its customers from spurious and potentially unsafe products which unlawfully use the Canon name, as well as to protect the value, trusted reputation and loyalty that the Canon brand has acquired over decades in producing high-quality, safe and reliable products.

Good guys :-) But they do not care about your safety here, they care about profits.

And here is Apple

Apple’s comments came a week after lawmakers at the European Parliament called for a common charger for all mobile phones and amended a draft law to say the ability to work with common chargers would be an essential requirement for radio equipment in the bloc.

A move to a common charger would affect Apple more than any other companies as its iPhones and most of its products are powered by its Lightning cable, whereas Android devices are powered by USB-C connectors.

“We believe regulation that forces conformity across the type of connector built into all smartphones stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, and would harm consumers in Europe and the economy as a whole” Apple said in a statement.

It is nice word for such things - hutzpah.

It said regulation was not needed as the industry is already moving to USB-C through a connector or cable assembly. “We hope the (European) Commission will continue to seek a solution that does not restrict the industry’s ability to innovate,” Apple said.

Today, the Commission takes an important step against e-waste and consumer inconvenience, caused by the prevalence of different, incompatible chargers for electronic devices. Years of working with industry on a voluntary approach already brought down the number of mobile phone chargers from 30 to 3 within the last decade, but could not deliver a complete solution. The Commission is now putting forward legislation to establish a common charging solution for all relevant devices.

With today's proposal for a revised Radio Equipment Directive, the charging port and fast charging technology will be harmonised: USB-C will become the standard port for all smartphones, tablets, cameras, headphones, portable speakers and handheld videogame consoles. In addition, the Commission proposes to unbundle the sale of chargers from the sale of electronic devices. This will improve consumers' convenience and reduce the environmental footprint associated with the production and disposal of chargers, thereby supporting the green and digital transitions.

Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe fit for the Digital Age, said: "European consumers were frustrated long enough about incompatible chargers piling up in their drawers. We gave industry plenty of time to come up with their own solutions, now time is ripe for legislative action for a common charger. This is an important win for our consumers and environment and in line with our green and digital ambitions."

Commissioner Thierry Breton, responsible for the Internal Market, said: "Chargers power all our most essential electronic devices. With more and more devices, more and more chargers are sold that are not interchangeable or not necessary. We are putting an end to that. With our proposal, European consumers will be able to use a single charger for all their portable electronics -- an important step to increase convenience and reduce waste."

Today, the Commission is proposing:

• A harmonised charging port for electronic devices: USB-C will be the common port. This will allow consumers to charge their devices with the same USB-C charger, regardless of the device brand.
• Harmonised fast charging technology will help prevent that different producers unjustifiably limit the charging speed and will help to ensure that charging speed is the same when using any compatible charger for a device.
• Unbundling the sale of a charger from the sale of the electronic device: consumers will be able to purchase a new electronic device without a new charger. This will limit the number of unwanted chargers purchased or left unused. Reducing production and disposal of new chargers is estimated to reduce the amount of electronic waste by almost a thousand tonnes' yearly.
• Improved information for consumers: producers will need to provide relevant information about charging performance, including information on the power required by the device and if it supports fast charging. This will make it easier for consumers to see if their existing chargers meet the requirements of their new device or help them to select a compatible charger. Combined with the other measures, this would help consumers limit the number of new chargers purchased and help them save €250 million a year on unnecessary charger purchases.