Scott Scaccia, 34, the owner of A Plus Vapes & Deals in Batavia, NY was sentenced to two years of probation including six months of home detention by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford on Tuesday according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
His crime? Selling clones, aka "counterfeit" vaporizers.
Ninety of the clones were confiscated when his storefront was raided in April 2015 by agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations. He obtained the counterfeit vapes from his brother in California and from the Chinese website AliExpress.com.
The Justice Department website doesn't go into detail about why this small-time store owner was specifically targeted for this kind of raid. As anyone who reads this website knows, clones are a huge part of this industry and they can be found in virtually every single vape shop.
The only way this makes sense is if he was trying to pass them off as authentic. Either that or the government is deciding to take trademark violations in the vape industry seriously. In that case, every store owner could be fucked.
Hopefully more details emerge soon.
Absolutely. It's just a metal tube and if someone makes the mod I want for a lower price I'm all for it!
Yes as long as they don't copy the branding so it can't be passed off as authentic.