Apple lawsuit targets "iPod Mechanic"

'Tis better to give than to receive, so Apple is giving some legal love by filing trademark and fraud suits against Portage, Michigan businessman Nicholas Woodhams.

Woodhams operates an online iPod repair business called iPod Mechanic. Apple claims they asked Woodhams to stop using the iPod trademark back in 2006 and that the parties came to an agreement to have Woodhams stop using the iPod Mechanic name in January, 2007 and park the ipodmechanic.com domain name two months later. Apple says those conditions were never met. A quick browse to ipodmechanic.com shows that it now redirects to imechanic.com. The company name is still iPod Mechanic.

But wait, there's more! Apple accuses Woodhams of defrauding them by convincing the company to send him free repair parts. Woodhams allegedly scammed Apple's iPod shuffle Advance Replacement Program in 2007, filling out online forms for customers using a credit card as insurance that the broken shuffle would be returned. Apple claims that Woodhams would immediately decline charges made by Apple when the broken shuffles didn't show, and then sold the iPods at a heavy discount. Apple claims this scheme cost them over $75,000.

Woodhams is also accused of swapping back plates on out-of-warranty iPods for those still covered by a warranty in order to avoid paying for parts and repair charges. All of the offenses are viewed as deliberate, so Apple is seeking triple damages and the discontinuation of the iPod Mechanic name and website.

[Via Apple Insider]