Apple Illustration -

Richard B. Levine / NEWSCOM / SIPA

Apple turned to justice last January to claim a little over 31 million Canadian dollars (about 20 million euros) from the company GEEP Canada.

The apple brand accuses its former partner of having resold some of the devices it was paid to dismantle and then recycle.

In its complaint relayed by

The Verge

this Sunday, the Californian giant mentions a minimum of 103,845 terminals concerned.

The embezzlement of the company bought since by Quantum Lifecycle would relate to iPhone, iPad and iWatch.

Apple says that more than 5 tons of these products "left the GEEP premises without being destroyed, which GEEP itself confirms".

The complainant sent his devices to be recycled to his Canadian partner between 2015 and 2018 and said he had ceased the collaboration when he discovered the resale of certain devices.

Quality issues according to Apple

Apple believes that such a practice results in the presence on the market of devices which bear its brand but do not necessarily meet its quality criteria.

"Products sent for recycling are no longer suitable for marketing to consumers and if they are reassembled with counterfeit parts, they can generate serious safety risks, including battery or electricity faults," explains the company.

Among the some 500,000 models entrusted to GEEP Canada, Apple estimates through an audit that 18% continue to access the Internet.

Some of the terminals that were to be destroyed are also not connected objects.

Canadian society does not deny the facts but denies any will to harm.

She herself has filed a complaint against three of her employees whom she accuses of being at the origin of the hijacking of the devices.

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