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Apple sues (settles?) kid who sold Steve Wozniak white iPhone 4

Remember Steve Wozniak’s white iPhone 4? Then you remember we discovered it was a do-it-yourself modification. The Woz himself admitted to buying parts from Fei Lam (no relation to Gizmodo’s editor Brian Lam whatsoever), a New York teenager who banked a cool $130,000 selling those sought-after white front and back plates on the web. When the story blew up and Apple presumably sent its legal rottweilers after the kid, he shuttered the whiteiphone4now.com site and disappeared under the radar.

MacRumors discovered that Apple yesterday filed a lawsuit against Lam and his parents who “aided and abetted him” in an alleged infringement and dilution of Apple’s trademarks. They’re seeking damages and demanding that Lam hands over all profits from the sale. At the same time, the company has filed a voluntary dismissal, leaving the door open to a possible settlement. From Apple’s lawsuit:

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Defendent Lam willfully and without authorization has used Apple’s trademarks in connection with the sale of his “White iPhone 4 Conversion Kits,” which among other things included white front and back panels with Apple’s logo and “iPhone” trademarks that are used in connection with the promotion and sale of Apple’s well known iPhone 4 handheld mobile digital electronic devices. Defendant at all times knew that Apple never has authorized the sale of white panels for its iPhone 4 mobile devices, and that he obtained these panels from sources that were not authorized by Apple or any of its suppliers to sell them.

The filing also exposed the identity of a Foxconn employee who had been providing Lam with white front and back plates (his name is Alan Yang for those that need to know).

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